27-11-00 India is formulating a proposal to seek concessionary crude oil rates from OPEC for developing countries, which will be on three counts. These will include a proposal for special discount for countries like India which are actual users of the crude oil they are purchasing and are not selling to other countries, the second is for soft loans in the matter of payment for a period of one to two years, and the third for deferred payment for up to three months," Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a three-day international conference-cum-exhibition on Petroleum Geochemistry and Exploration in the Afro-Asian Region organised here by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Naik said he was hopeful of the international oil prices stabilising in the price band of $ 24-$ 27.
"During my one-to-one discussions with OPEC member countries at the Riyadh Energy Forum of producing and consumer countries, I was given an assurance that the countries would strive to bringdown the price to the band of $ 24-$ 27. Now that the winter demand has been met, there is no shortage of oil globally," said Naik.

India is meanwhile pursing with Iraq the proposal for selling its surplus wheat in exchange for oil, said Naik who is chairman of the Indo-Iraq Joint Commission which is holding its meeting in the capital currently. Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadhan is expected to finalise the agreement, which has already been submitted to the United Nations for approval, during his five-day visit to India. He would be attending the concluding session of the Joint Commission meeting on November 29.
Stressing the importance of new exploration activities and the need for new technologies to optimise production in the existing oil fields, Naik said efforts are being made to further streamline the process of awarding contracts. "As against the three months taken for award and signing of contracts for the 25 blocks in the first round of blocks under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy, we will strive to bring it down to one month. This time round we would be furnishing more seismic data on the 25 blocks to be offered before the end of December," said Naik.
In his inaugural address, Naik called for framing a better "world petroleum economic order for the Afro-Asian region which would chart out the vision for exploration and production for the next 25 years on the lines of India's Hydrocarbon Vision 2025."

A number of research papers will be discussed by leading geophysicists attending the conference, which is being held in Delhi for the second time. Commenting on the Indian hydrocarbon scene, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas E. Ponnuswamy and ONGC chairman B.C. Bora stressed the need for increased inter-regional collaboration, sharing of knowledge and joint ventures using new concepts in geochemistry and exploration.
They said of the 26 sedimentary basins in the country having a sedimentary area of 3.4 mm sq km, besides the deepwater basin area of 1.4 mm sq km where the exploration activities have just begun, only six basins are being commercially exploited. "We have hydrocarbon resources of 28 bn tons including about 7 bn tons in deepwater areas of which only about one-fourth have been converted into proved resources," he said.