Delhi Diary: India Works For Energy Security

By Shakir Husain Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi Shakir Husain shares his take on the happenings in India. NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- Dependent on oil and gas imports to fuel its large economy, India is seeking long-term energy security.  Its efforts are focused on securing supplies of fossil fuels as well as building renewable energy capacity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday opened a crude oil storage facility with a capacity of 1.33 million metric tonnes in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Developed at a cost of about US$158 million, the Visakhapatnam Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility is one of three such underground stockpiles in the country. The SPRs, managed by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will hold more than five million tonnes (about 40 million barrels) in underground rock caverns. The other two facilities are located at Mangalore and Padur and have a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes and 2.5 million tonnes respectively. Combined with the crude and product storage capacity of oil companies, the SPRs will give India sufficient cushion for about two months of energy requirements in case of any external supply disruptions. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates are major suppliers to the third-biggest oil consumer, which accounts for 4.5 per cent of total world oil consumption. According to Modi, India's energy future has four pillars: energy access, energy efficiency, energy sustainability and energy security. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd through its overseas arm ONGC Videsh Ltd is exploring projects from Vietnam to Venezuela. The Middle East accounts for 65 per cent of India's oil imports, while the remainder comes from Africa and Latin America. India bought a significant amount of US oil in 2018 as its total imports rose to a record 4.6 million barrels per day.  Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan says India seeks to build energy alliances through strategic projects and investments rather than just have buyer-seller engagements with energy-rich countries. As India's energy demand rises, the government says promoting biofuels and energy efficiency are among its priorities along with moving to a gas-based economy. India has historically relied on coal to run its power plants and oil to operate its transport sector. It wants to increase the share of gas in energy consumption from 6.5 per cent at present to 15 per cent by 2030 as part of its environmental goals to focus on cleaner fuels. "We have over 16,000km-long gas pipeline network and additionally another 14,000km gas pipelines are under different stages of construction," Pradhan said on Sunday. "In the next few years, we expect 70 per cent of India's population and 53 per cent of the country’s area shall get covered with city gas distribution networks. LNG (liquefied natural gas) is being promoted as a transport fuel for long-haul trucking along expressways, industrial corridors and inside mining areas. Very soon, we will have LNG refuelling along some of our national highways," he said. Oil and gas accounted for 55 per cent of India's energy mix in 2017. -- BERNAMA