Government officials in one of the world’s most prosperous and fastest growing economies were increasingly concerned about a rising imbalance between escalating hydrocarbon demand and flat, in-country hydrocarbon production. Despite successful government action to increase direct foreign investment in the energy sector, the supply-demand gap continued to escalate and was poised to exceed a 2 million BOE/day deficit; unless the gap were closed, government officials worried that economic growth could stall and that the country’s payments for imported oil & gas would siphon off needed investment capital.

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