TC Web Desk
India’s energy strategy is mindful of commitments to the global commons, to Green Transition and to ensure Energy Availability, Affordability and Security to all, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S. Puri said.
Addressing a roundtable on “Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership” at Houston, Texas, Puri said that 25% of global energy demand growth in the next two decades was going to emanate out of India. He noted that India had taken many steps towards low carbon development, including through emerging fuels like hydrogen and biofuels. He emphasised that despite the current challenging energy environment, India’s commitment to energy transitions, and climate mitigation goals, is not going to diminish.
Puri chaired a roundtable organised by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. The roundtable brought together over 60 participants from 35 companies, including senior leadership of energy majors like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Chieniere, Lanzatech, Honeywell, BakerHughes, Emerson, and Tellurian, to name a few. Indian energy PSUs also attended the event.
The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that India was undertaking major reforms to rationalise and incentivise exploration and production by reducing the no-go areas by 99% opening up approx. one million sq. kms, making good quality geological data available through the National Depository Registry etc.
As a gesture of commitment of Indian Government to the energy and petroleum sectors, the special Coal-bed Methane (CBM) round and offshore bid rounds in the oil and gas capital of the world (Houston) offering over 2.3 sq. lakh km, after opening up over one million sq. kms of no-go areas recently, pointed out the minister.
In a series of tweets, Puri stated that the immense potential between the two countries in areas of biofuels, gas-based economy, green hydrogen, petrochemicals, and upstream sectors is evident and is being furthered by collaboration by our private sector companies. He further stated, “Due to reform measures by the government, there is unprecedented interest in Indian energy and petroleum by global oil companies,” an official statement said.
The discussion was concluded with broad-based support from the participants to push forth with potential partnerships which will bring the best-in-class technologies in both traditional energies and new energies to India.
