Petroleum ministers from major oil producing countries will meet in New Delhi on January 6 as part of India's initiative to tackle the surging global oil prices, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
"Petroleum ministers from West Asian and South Asian countries will meet in New Delhi on January 6", Aiyar said, adding ministers from six major oil producing West Asian countries have already confirmed their participation.
The meeting will be held to tackle the rising global oil prices, the minister said while winding up discussions on a calling attention on exorbitant oil prices in the House.
The government also proposes to work towards creation of Asian oil community on the pattern of similar groupings in North America and Mediterranean, which enables member-nations to avail of discount on oil purchases to bring price stability, he said.
Aiyar said to ensure energy security, the refining capacity in the country will be increased by nearly 50 per cent in the next three years.
He said besides raising the capacity of the existing refineries from 125 million tonnes to 140 million tonnes by 2007, six new refineries with additional 41 million tonnes capacity would be set up.
He stressed the need for four major Asian consumers including India and China to come together as in the case of European and North American countries to get better deal from oil producing countries.
The four major Asian consumers accounted for nearly two thirds of the total global oil imports, he said.