Nearly 10.6 crore Indian households are cooking with affordable LPG, and about 6.7 crore people refuel their vehicles each day, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday.
In a post on X, Puri said India has emerged as the world’s third-largest consumer of oil and LPG. “From deepwater exploration to green hydrogen and bioenergy, Bharat is building a future that’s secure, sustainable, and self-sufficient under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership,” he wrote.
The minister said India is also the fourth-largest LNG importer and a global refining hub, consuming 5.5 million barrels of oil each day. “Energy is more than fuel — it is the heartbeat of a new Bharat. It powers industries, connects people, and fuels the aspirations of 1.42 billion Indians,” he added.
Puri said India’s energy sector continues to grow despite global uncertainty, driven by reforms in oil and gas. The country’s refining capacity has risen from 215 to 258 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA), and the Jamnagar refinery has become Asia’s largest, exporting petroleum products to over 100 countries.
Under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round 10, around 2.5 lakh sq km has been opened for exploration and production. The number of clearances required for exploration has been reduced from 37 to 18 to improve ease of doing business, he said.
More than $1.3 billion has been invested in the upstream segment to enhance oil exploration and production, the minister added.
The petroleum minister also said India has reopened nearly one million sq km of previously restricted offshore areas for exploration since 2022. Since 2015, exploration and production (E&P) companies have reported 172 hydrocarbon discoveries, including 62 offshore.
Puri noted the geological promise of the Andaman basin, located at the junction of the Indian and Burmese plates, which has stratigraphic traps conducive to hydrocarbon accumulation. The basin’s proximity to petroleum systems in Myanmar and North Sumatra, along with recent gas finds in South Andaman offshore Indonesia, has renewed global interest in the region.
IANS