Access to Traditional Fuel and Predictable Trajectory to Cleaner Fuel is Needed for Orderly Energy Transition: Petroleum Minister Hardeep S Puri

Feb 07,2024

Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that India’s recent reforms in the sector including diversification of sources of imports, and changes in gas pricing mechanism had ensured that prices of Petrol and Diesel in India declined while the global prices were shooting up.

The Union Minister participated in a ministerial panel titled ‘‘Ensuring energy security for nations and industry in a VUCA world” at India Energy Week 2024 along with Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Energy Affairs, Cabinet minister, Qatar, Vickram Bharat, Minister of Natural Resources Republic of Guyana, and Secretary General OPEC, Haitham Al Ghais. VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It describes the situation of constant, unpredictable change that is now the norm in certain industries and areas of the business world.

Referring to the global energy production and supply situation, Union Minister Puri stated that the challenge is to make sure transition is done in an orderly manner. That we have access to traditional fuel and making predictable transition to cleaner fuel. Balanced and realistic dialogue is needed and not vilification of fossil fuel,” Union Minister Puri said.

Secretary General OPEC, Al Ghais observed that even as energy transition was vital, “energy transition can have multiple pathways. This is how we should look at energy transition. At OPEC we continue to invest, and we need hundreds of billions of investment over the next 20 years.”

Al Ghais also emphasised the need for investment in fossil fuel production. “We need to invest as demand is likely to continue to grow,” he added.

Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Qatar said that renewable sources of energy do not completely solve the global energy needs. “It is not responsible to say we do not use fossil fuel. It is like humanity shooting itself in the foot,” he added.

Vickram Bharat, Minister of Natural Resources, Republic of Guyana said that the new hydrocarbon found offshore Guyana was a step towards prosperity. “The new hydrocarbon find offshore Guyana has made the world notice us. Our policy is very simple. Get hydrocarbons out of the ground as fast as possible and use that to build traditional sectors. The window on oil is closing, not so much for gas,” he noted.

India Energy Week Background

In yet another step in this direction, India Energy Week 2024 is being held from 6 – 9 February in Goa and is India’s largest and only all-encompassing energy exhibition and conference, bringing together the entire energy value chain, and will serve as a catalyst for India's energy transition goals. The Prime Minister also held a roundtable with Global oil & gas CEOs and experts.

Encouraging and fostering startups and integrating them into the energy value chain will be an important focus for India Energy Week 2024. It is expected to witness the participation of around 17 Energy ministers from different countries, 35,000+ attendees and more than 900 exhibitors. It will have six dedicated country pavilions - Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, the UK and the USA. A special Make in India Pavilion is also being organized to showcase innovative solutions which Indian MSMEs are spearheading in the energy sector.