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India has passed a law aimed at encouraging oil and gas exploration. This helps meet your energy needs. This is a move to phase out fossil fuels, highlighting the difficulty of persuading the world’s most populous countries.
“(It’s) a historic day of exploration for India’s energy security and energy self-sufficiency,” said Oil Minister Harpia Singh Puri after the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill amending the 1948 Oil Extraction Act.
India’s dependence on imported crude oil has risen due to increased energy demand and delays in domestic production, with imports accounting for almost 90% of consumption between April and December 2024.
Puri said the new law passed by Congressional Senators in December would help businesses explore oil and gas by ensuring stability in policy and allowing international arbitration and extensions of lease terms.
The “wide range” amendment “will further strengthen and promote India’s energy sector,” the oil minister said.
According to the International Energy Agency, India is the third largest carbon pollutant in the world, after the US and China, and is experiencing increased pressure from overseas to move faster to reduce emissions.
However, Indian officials say developed countries are responsible for historic emissions, and countries such as India morally justify using easily available energy sources to keep up economically.
“The fact that we are trying to rely on traditional energy for some time has meant that we need to strengthen our exploration and production activities,” Puri said, adding that India has now consumed 5.5 million barrels of crude oil a day for 5 million and a half years.
“If we continue to grow at our speed, we’ll have 6.5mn-7.0mn barrels per day,” he said.
Arvinder Singh Sahney, chairman of the state-run Indian Oil Corporation, told the Financial Times last month that India’s lack of exploration was due to “lack of investment.” “We want to explore to the greatest extent,” he said.
Energy supply is a sharp problem for India as it industrializes India’s economy, and is subsidized to both carbon-heavy companies and renewable sectors to become a manufacturing hub that can gain global market share from its Asian rival China.
At a meeting last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump agreed to increase US oil and gas exports as part of an effort to readjust trade relations between the two countries.
Russia is currently the leading supplier of Indian crude oil, and Qatar is the largest provider of liquefied natural gas. Last month, Oil and India signed a contract with Brazilian national oil company Petrobras to jointly bid for India’s oil and gas exploration block.
