India may see $206 bn investment in oil and gas in next 8-10 years

The country's oil and natural gas sector is likely to see investment to the tune of $206 billion during the next eight to ten years.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the top global executives at the India Energy Forum by CERA Week on Monday, it is expected he would further entice companies to promote an cor a self-reliant India. This when the domestic fuel market is recovering from the pandemic-driven decline.

The three-day forum will see participation from Dan Brouillette (US Secretary of Energy), Prince Abdulaziz (Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia) and Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber (CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company).

"The importance of such a global meet comes when you realise that the country is set to see such large investment this decade. This includes investments to the tune of $67 billion in gas infrastructure -- LNG capacity increase, pipelines and CGD networks. Global players like Total, Exxon Mobil and Shell have shown their interests in this field" said a government official. He indicated that put together Reliance-BP, ONGC and Oil India, exploration and production scenario would see investment of around $59 billlion. On the other hand, downstream segment, including marketing, refinery expansions and new refinery plans like Vizag, Barmer, Paradip and Ratnagiri may see another $80 billlion investments too in the sector.

The virtual event will also see participation from industry bigwigs like Igor Sechin (Chairman, Rosneft, Russia); Bernard Looney (CEO BP Plc, UK); Patrick Pouyanne (Chairman & CEO, Total S.A., France); Olivier Le Peuch (CEO, Schlumberger, USA); Mukesh Ambani (Chairman & MD, Reliance Industries) and Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo (Secretary General, Opec).

This is at a time when the country's fuel sales is on a recovery track coming out of the demand contraction that happened due to the outbreak of pandemic and consequent lockdowns. During the first fortnight of October 2020, the Petrol demand was up by 1.5 per cent; Diesel by 8.79 per cent and LPG by 6.93 per cent compared to October 1-15 period of 2019. The ATF demand is 57 per cent short of last year which means there is a recovery of 43 per cent. According to estimates, the world total primary energy demand would increase at less than 1 per cent per annum till 2040 and this growth would be mainly supported by India and other Asia. Out of this, India's Energy demand would grow at about three per cent a year till 2040.

India has also seen increased focus on clean energy in recent years. "The share of renewable in electricity capacity has significantly gone up now to 22 per cent from around 10 per cent in 2014-15. The ethanol blending percentage has risen from 0.67 per cent in 2012-13 to now close to 6 per cent. In addition, we have launched schemes like Ujjwala giving access to clean energy for common man, BS VI fuel was launched and also Hydrogen-CNG also became a part of our fuel basket," he said