Notes for Remarks by
The Honourable Joe Oliver
Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
to the
Ministerial Session Petrotech
January 13, 2014 Greater Noida, India
Check against delivery
Let me begin by expressing my appreciation to the Government of India, Minister Moily and the sponsors of this event — Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and PETROTECH — for their outstanding leadership in organizing this world-class conference.
It is a privilege to join my ministerial colleagues and I look forward to continuing to hear their ideas and insights.
I am also delighted to be joined by the Honourable Alison Redford, Premier of Alberta, a Canadian province that will make an important contribution to the world’s energy security in the coming decades.
Canada is immensely proud of our relationship with India — proud to call itself a good friend and ally. We have close person-to-person ties. More than a million people of Indian origin now call Canada home. Many Indo-Canadians are experts and leaders in all facets of business, research, academia and government.
The diplomatic ties between our two countries are strong — and growing. Since 2008, Indian ministers have visited Canada 10 times. In turn, Canadian ministers, myself included, have made a total of 13 visits to India.
India is an important commercial partner for Canada, with two-way trade of over $5 billion in 2012 and two-way investment of over $4 billion. But our two Prime Ministers have issue a joint challenge for us to do much more: to increase annual bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2015. And that will only happen with a robust increase in the energy sector.
Last year, we took important steps to enhance our relationship. The Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement was entered into force in September, signifying respect and trust between our countries. We launched the Canada-India Energy Dialogue, enhancing collaboration in an area of vital importance to our citizens. Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and I held our first meeting under the Energy Dialogue last October. And we concluded a memorandum of understanding to support bilateral cooperation in oil and gas.
Our discussions here at PETROTECH will go a long way to expand this relationship. The forward-looking theme of this conference — challenges and opportunities of the emerging global energy basket — speaks directly to Canada’s interests as an energy supporter.
For all of us, it is about looking ahead — to a world where economic growth is shifting, energy demand is increasing remorselessly and energy supply is becoming more diverse and diffuse. To a world where new technologies are changing the game by unlocking unconventional reserves to an extent that could not have been predicted a decade ago.
As we look ahead to 2030 and beyond, it is clear that Asia is realigning the global energy market. And with its soaring growth, India will play a key role.
According to the International Energy Agency, India’s energy demand will double by 2035. India will be the largest importer of oil next to China and the fourth-largest importer of natural gas.
The fact is India’s growth — and that of this continent — will require resources, expertise and technology. Canada stands as a responsible, willing and able supplier of the natural resources that India will need, particularly energy. Indeed, energy is emerging as an area of great strategic complementarity.
For Canada, it is an opportunity to meet key objectives: diversifying our energy markets and strengthening our position as a globally competitive exporter. For India, it is an opportunity to secure the energy it needs from a reliable friend it can trust.
Fossil fuels will remain a key element of global energy supply for years to come. In fact, according to the International Energy Agency, by 2035 fossil fuels will still be required to meet three-quarters of global energy demand.
So as energy demand increases in India, finding reliable sources of oil will remain critical, in spite of its impressive growth in renewables. And finding investment opportunities in the sector to hedge import requirements and earn an attractive return won’t be easy.
About 80 percent of the world’s oil reserves are controlled either by national governments or state owned enterprises. That leaves only 20 percent of global oil reserves that are open to market investment development — and Canada holds 60 percent of those reserves in its oil sands.
All told, the oil sands contain about 168 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. With new technology, this could increase to more than 300 billion barrels — surpassing Saudi Arabia and Venezuela — and potentially giving Canada the largest oil reserves in the world.
With numerous pipeline proposals under consideration, we see a great opportunity to supply oil to India in the years to come, further contributing to your energy security.
In order to diversify Canada’s energy markets, four new oil pipelines are in the works — two would carry western Canadian crude to Canada’s West Coast; two others would deliver western oil to refineries and ports in eastern Canada — opening the door to Canadian petroleum exports, and contributing to a more stable, reliable and diversified global supply. Canada’s east coast is closer to India than the east coast of the United States or the west coast of Canada. The proposed Energy East pipeline could therefore play a major role in helping India meet its growing energy demand.
Canada is also rich in another fuel that will play a critical role as the world makes the transition to a lower carbon future — and that’s natural gas. Canada is the fifth-largest producer of natural gas in the world, with resources estimated at 37 trillion cubic meters — enough to continue our current rate of production for more than 200 years. And while we have not yet entered the liquefied natural gas market, that is about to change, dramatically. Indeed, there are now 11 export licences at various stages of approval, totaling 165 million tonnes of LNG export capacity annually.
Investors from around the world, including India, Korea, China, Malaysia and Japan, are realizing the potential for LNG in Canada, which is why we are seeing interest from companies like Mitsubishi, Korea Gas Corporation, PETRONAS, PetroChina, India Oil Corporation and India-based H-Energy.
We are developing our energy resources at an unparalleled pace. About $650 billion in new investment is planned or underway over the coming decade through hundreds of major resource projects. These include new pipelines to our east and west coasts, ensuring our oil and gas can get to tidewater and world markets.
Investment into Canada will play a critical role in getting these projects off the ground, because Canada does not have all the capital it needs on its own.
Canada offers a strong value proposition to investors, based on solid economic fundamentals, a stable regulatory environment and deep expertise across the oil and gas sector.
Progress continues with the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement as the eighth round of negotiations concluded this June. And we look forward to signing a Canada-India Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with our Indian friends.
Beyond trade agreements, we know how important a sound regulatory and policy framework is to attracting capital and developing major resource projects.
Canada has taken important steps to modernize its regulatory system for resource project reviews. Our plan for Responsible Resource Development is providing certainty and predictability for investors by introducing fixed timelines for assessments and cutting red tape.
At the same time, countries must maintain an unswerving commitment to safeguarding the environment. Canada is strengthening environmental standards with the goal of nothing less than world-class environmental protection.
One of the challenges of our times is to meet the growing global demand for energy, increase its supply to emerging economies and develop our energy resources in an environmentally responsible way. Canada stands ready to work with our partners, including India, to meet these challenges.
While governments are acting to improve the conditions for trade and investment, the private sector must drive it. We look to business in India and Canada to seize the opportunities at hand by investing in new projects and creating new technologies.
This conference is about shaping an equitable and sustainable energy future. A future requiring new ideas, new technologies and new perspectives.
In those efforts, you will find Canada a trusted partner playing a central role.
Thank you.