Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 12: India’s energy sector is rapidly evolving, with 10.60 crore households now cooking on affordable LPG and 67 million people visiting fuel stations daily, said Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday. India is currently the world’s third-largest consumer of oil and LPG.
Highlighting the country’s strides, Puri tweeted that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, India is advancing towards a secure, sustainable, and self-reliant energy future, spanning deepwater exploration to green hydrogen and bioenergy.
India ranks as the fourth-largest LNG importer and is home to one of the world’s largest refining hubs, processing 5.5 million barrels of oil daily. “Energy is more than fuel — it is the heartbeat of a new Bharat,” the minister remarked, emphasizing its role in powering industries and fueling the ambitions of 1.42 billion people.
Despite global fuel market volatility, India is pushing forward with reforms. The country’s oil refining capacity has grown from 215 to 258 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA), with the Jamnagar refinery now Asia’s largest, exporting petroleum products to over 100 nations.
In the upstream oil and gas sector, reforms under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round 10 have opened up 2.5 lac square kilometers for exploration, while the number of clearances needed has been cut from 37 to 18 to boost ease of doing business. Over $1.3 billion has already been invested to enhance oil exploration and production.
India’s offshore areas are seeing renewed interest, with nearly one million square kilometers of previously restricted ‘No-Go’ zones now accessible. Since 2015, exploration and production companies have made 172 hydrocarbon discoveries, including 62 offshore.
Particularly promising is the Andaman-Nicobar (AN) Basin, positioned at the convergence of the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates. This geological setting has created stratigraphic traps favorable for hydrocarbons and shares proximity with proven petroleum systems in Myanmar and North Sumatra. Recent gas discoveries offshore South Andaman, Indonesia, have renewed global focus on this region, indicating potential geological continuity and energy opportunities.