Shenzhen: India will become the world's largest oil refiner by 2009, Sanjay Metha, the president and ceo of Essar Shipping told delegates attending the World Shipping Summit last Friday. Metha said his country's rise to the top of the oil refining stakes was likely due to proximity to source, namely the Middle East. In 2005, India was the fifth largest crude oil importer taking in 2m barrels per day. Similarly gas consumption is set to rise dramatically, Metha said, as more storage tanks come onstream. Gas currently accounts for just 9% of India's commercial energy consumption due to storage constraints. However, with five large storage tank facilities coming onstream next year India will be have 25m mpta of capacity which will be a huge boon to Qatar and Iran, India's two main sources of LNG. [06/11/06]
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