India respected by oil & gas suppliers
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has cautioned energy businesses, calling on them to think out-of-the-box and be prepared for disruptive trends.
Cautioning the businesses to prepare for disruption, he said that “there will be disruptive trends, which shall call for out-of-the-box thinking, such as future refineries having to demonstrate flexibilities to switch products and if needed have petrochemical as an output.”
Delivering a keynote address at Energy Horizons 2019, a flagship event of Council On Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in New Delhi 19 July 2019, he dwelt upon the trends that are crucial to India’s energy transition. The Minister said that
“We will have to deal with volatility in the energy market due to geo-politics and play a significant global role.”
He said that Transition in Mobility is here, and “we have to set the road map for India.”
He stressed for ensuring Secure, Efficient, Affordable and Sustainable Energy to fuel the government’s US$5 trillion economy target.
On the future of work and need to prepare workforce, the Minister said that Organizations and the country should assess their talent readiness and take action to prepare them for the disruptions.
Pradhan said “We live in a world which is at the cusp of major energy transitions. India, as one of the fastest growing large economies in the world and the third largest consumer of energy globally, is indeed embracing the energy transition.”
He said that the robust growth of India in the last five years has been achieved through a series of policy reforms covering the vast spectrum of economic and social activities.
“Our Government remains committed to inclusive, holistic and sustainable high economic growth. We are working on a mission mode to build India into a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2024,” he added.
India’s energy consumption is projected to grow at 4.2% per annum up to 2035, faster than all major economies of the world.
While India’s energy demand increased to 754 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) in 2017, the per capita consumption of energy is still much lower than the world average.
India’s share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to about 11% by 2040, driven by strong economic development.
“Given the complex and fast growing nature of our energy needs, we will depend on all sources of energy that are secure, efficient, affordable and sustainable,” said Pradhan, citing the meaningful role of coal, oil, gas, bio-fuels, nuclear, hydro, solar and wind.
The Minister said that Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry continues to endeavour to “Reform, Perform and Transform’ the sector.
The Government has taken several reforms with far-reaching impacts in the sectors of Exploration and Production, Refinery, Marketing, Natural Gas and International Cooperation.
“Today, India’s voice as a large, reliable energy consuming nation is heard with respect. We have been able to convince the oil suppliers about India’s as well as all consuming nations’ justified stand for a responsible and reasonable pricing.
“We have raised the issue of responsible pricing and for abolishing Asian Premium with OPEC and its member countries,” he said.
India has forged partnerships with major energy consumers like Japan and China to work together and synergize areas of its mutual interest in the oil and gas sector.
India and the US have established a Strategic Energy Partnership last year.
“With US, we also constituted a Joint Task Force on Natural Gas, which aims at increasing the share of gas in India’s primary energy mix.
“The increase in the supply-demand gap in energy sector is inevitable and will lead to greater innovations and investments in the ongoing energy transition.” Pradhan said. fiinews.com
