“I find China ahead of us in planning for the future in the field of energy security. We can no longer be complacent and must learn to think strategically, to think ahead and to act swiftly and decisively,” Singh said in his speech to the 2005 Petrotech oil and gas conference.

“We are exploring the possibilities of restructuring our oil companies to make them globally competitive. I urge (the state-owned hydrocarbons firms) to think big, think creatively and think boldly. They have to be more fleet-footed in making use of global opportunities, both on the supply and demand side.”