PM pitches for responsible crude pricing, says India to double refining capacity by 2025

• 'For too long, the world has seen crude prices on a roller-coaster. We need to move towards responsible pricing,' said the PM

• The Prime Minister said the reform in the energy sector has been fast paced in the last six years

New Delhi: (Energy sector news) Projecting India as an emerging destination for investments in both conventional and clean energy sector despite the setbacks induced by the COVID-19 crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India plans to grow its crude oil refining capacities from about 250 to 400 Million Metric Tonnes per annum by 2025 and urged the global oil and gas community to make crude oil pricing more responsible. Addressing the 4th India Energy Forum CERAWeek through video conference on Monday, Modi said that despite many challenges like fall in energy demand by almost one-third, prevailing price instability, impacted investment decisions, projected contraction in global energy demand over the next few years, India was projected to emerge as a leading energy consumer and is projected to nearly double its energy consumption over the long term.

The Prime Minister listed the interventions which made India the most attractive emerging market for clean energy investment like, distributing more than 36 crore LED bulbs, reducing the cost of LED bulbs by 10 fold, installing over 1.1 crore smart LED street-lights in the last 6 years. He said these interventions have enabled an estimated energy savings of 60 billion units per year, estimated green-house gas emission reduction of over 4.5 crore tonnes of Carbon dioxide annually and monetary savings of around Rs 24,000 crore annually.

India believes access to energy should be affordable, reliable: PM

He said India believes that access to energy must be affordable and reliable. While asserting that the energy sector empowers people and furthers ease of living, he listed government's initiatives like Ujjwala Yojana for LPG cylinder distribution and UJALA scheme for LED bulb distribution, and said that these initiatives have helped the rural people, middle class and the women.

The Prime Minister said that India's Energy Plan aims to ensure energy justice while fully following India's global commitments for sustainable growth. This means more energy is needed to improve the lives of Indians with a smaller carbon foot-print. He envisioned India's energy sector to be growth-centric, industry friendly and environment conscious. He said that is why India is among the most active nations in furthering renewable sources of energy.

'Reforms in energy sector have been fast paced'

The Prime Minister said the reform in the energy sector has been fast paced in the last six years. He listed many path-breaking reforms brought out recently like the reforms in Exploration and Licensing Policy, shifting the focus from 'revenue' to 'production' maximisation, focus on greater transparency and stream-lined procedures and plan to grow refining capacities from about 250 to 400 Million Metric tonnes per annum by 2025. He said increasing domestic gas production has been a key government priority and would be achieved through 'One Nation One Gas Grid' to shift the nation towards a gas-based economy. 

The Prime Minister pointed out that India is the third largest and the fastest growing aviation market in terms of domestic aviation and Indian carriers are projected to increase their fleet size from 600 to 1,200 by 2024. 

PM urges oil & gas community to make crude pricing more responsible

The Prime Minister urged the community to make the crude pricing more responsible and work towards creating transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas. "For too long, the world has seen crude prices on a roller-coaster. We need to move towards responsible pricing. We have to work towards transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas," he said.

Modi said that the government is moving forward with the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat and added that a self-reliant India will also be a force multiplier for the global economy. He said that energy security is at the core of these efforts. 

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Modi remarked that the efforts made by the government have started yielding positive results by way of increased investments in the oil and gas value chain during these challenging times and similar signs are seen in other sectors too. He added that the government is driving strategic and comprehensive energy engagements with key global energy players. Referring to India's Neighbourhood First Policy, Modi said that the development of energy corridors with neighbouring countries is prioritised for mutual benefit. 

Seven key drivers of energy map

The Prime Minister said like the seven horses driving the chariot of the Sun God, India's energy map will have seven key drivers, including, accelerated efforts to move towards a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels particularly petroleum and coal, greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels, achieving the renewable energy target of 450 GW by 2030, increasing the contribution of electricity to de-carbonise mobility, shift towards emerging fuels like hydrogen, and digital innovation across all energy systems. 

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