New Delhi, May 31 (IANS). Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that 76 percent of the total area currently being discovered for oil and gas in India’s sedimentary basin has come under active exploration since 2014.
In CII’s ‘Annual Business Summit 2025’, Union Minister Puri said that in the last decade, the government has managed to increase the area discovered for oil and gas in India’s sedimentary basin from 6 percent to 10 percent, which will soon reach 15 percent.
“Our goal is to increase India’s oil and gas exploration sector by 1 million square kilometers by 2030,” he said.
The Union Minister further said that India’s rapidly growing energy economy under the leadership of PM Modi is in a strong position.
He said that energy security is a strategic requirement for India, which must be ensured in the unstable global energy scenario.
The Union Minister said, “The size and magnitude of India’s energy sector can be gauged from the fact that in 2024-25 India imported about 242.4 million tonnes of crude oil and spent $ 137 billion on imports, while countries we import increased from 27 to 40.”
He said that India has been able to maintain energy availability, strength and stability even during difficult times. When fuel prices were skyrocketing worldwide, India was the only country where prices were really low and the active measures implemented by PM Modi for the benefit of citizens remained low.
Union Minister Puri further said that with new emphasis for major reforms and development in the region, India is now making it strong by expanding energy infrastructure. Also, the country is on the fast track of development by implementing innovative solution to speed up the Green Energy Transition.
In this context, he said that India’s ethanol blending initiative has also registered a great growth.
He said, “We have increased ethanol blending in petrol from 1.53 percent of 2013-14 to about 20 percent by April 2025, as we are now planning ahead of it.”
-IANS
SKT/ABM
