The Lobbyists: Untold Story of Oil Gas and Energy Sector Paperback
Rajeev Jayaswal
₹569₹569(0% off)
ISBN 13
9789386141293
Year
2016
In early 2000, India caught attention of global petroleum giants after it announced world’s biggest gas discovery. In 2004, it announced another world-class oil discovery in Rajasthan. These developments raised India’s hope that the world’s fourth largest oil importer would be able to significantly reduce over-dependence on the Gulf and other oil producing countries.
But, subsequent developments belied the hope. Soon India’s oil and gas dream turned out to be a nightmare. Controversies gripped domestic oil and gas industry. Greed for gas resulted into a major corporate war. It involved politicians, media and some members of the civic society. The Congress-led Manmohan Singh government was accused of encouraging crony capitalism. Allegations of corruption triggered probes by auditors and investigative agencies. Bureaucrats stopped taking decisions. The government suffered acute policy paralysis. Exploration and production of oil and gas suffered. In less than one decade India’s import dependence jumped. India left Japan behind to become world’s third largest oil importer after the United States and China.
This would have comforted oil exporting countries. India would continue to remain their most dependable market as it imported more than 80% crude oil it processes. The future $150-160 oil market was secure thanks to intense internal strife over oil and gas matters. But, a question remained unanswered. Was the decade-long turbulence sponsored by some lobbyists having share in this import pie? This book is an attempt to examine it.