About GEO India 2008 

India is opening up as one of the most exciting regions for oil and gas exploration in the world. With the full support of the Indian government, regional and international oil companies are aggressively investing in hydrocarbon exploration in the region, while India itself is set to become a potential exporter in this multi-billion dollar industry.

GEO India 2008 provides the platform to bring together leading government officials, energy, oil and gas professionals and specialists currently working in or intending to work in the Indian region.

This exhibition and high-level conference is jointly organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and theAssociation of Petroleum Geologists in India (APG) under the chairmanship of Mr R.S. Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

This event will be held at the newly built India Expo Centre EXPO XXI located at Greater Noida, situated approximately 45 minutes from New Delhi. By exhibiting at this state of the art, multi-functional venue, regional and international oil and gas companies will be able to showcase their products, innovations and technologies in the energy market. It will be their chance to meet and learn from other professionals in this fast-growing sector.

GEO India provides an unrivalled opportunity to be at the forefront of India’s hydrocarbon industry. Companies will gain a comparative advantage in learning about upstream prospects and to meet key leaders of this dynamic and innovative market.

INDIA – background briefing

The region’s dynamic oil and gas industry is one of the many by-products of India’s economic evolution. The country has enjoyed unprecedented growth rates for the past decade and is now positioned as Asia’s third-largest economy. Yet its ability to sustain such growth has been curtailed by higher energy and commodity prices - crude oil prices alone have more than doubled from a year ago – which has seen GDP fall for the first time in five years. India is in the unfortunate position of being a net importer of crude oil, relying on imports for 75% of its energy needs and this dependency is expected to increase to 90% by 2025.

Driven by the incentive to remediate this imbalance, the Indian Government has set in place a framework for private investors and public companies to diversify and integrate their operations through the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Over 170 oil blocks have been awarded so far under various rounds of global competitive bidding to a hybrid mix of national and international companies. By opening the market to international companies, the government is hoping to capitalise on their expertise and investment to accelerate hydrocarbon exploration in the Indian region.

Approximately 70% of India’s natural gas reserves have so far been found in the Bombay High basin and the western state of Gujarat. In the past two years alone, exploration companies have found 17 significant hydrocarbon discoveries while in 2002 Reliance Industries found a giant deepwater gas water discovery 20 kilometres offshore in the Krishna Godavari Basin, representing the largest find in India in over three decades.

Leading government officials, energy, oil and gas professionals and specialists currently working in or intending to work in the Indian region now have the unique opportunity to work together at GEO India 2008.