India's energy consumption to nearly triple by 2040: Pradhan

India's energy consumption, already the third-highest in the world, is likely to grow at more than four per cent annually and will nearly triple to 607 million metric tonnes by 2040, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in Abu Dhabi.

Pradhan said India has "several bright prospects in upstream oil and gas sector", as he invited overseas investors to participate in the exploration and production of oil and gas, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement on Tuesday.

Speaking at a roadshow for Discovered Small Field-II bids in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Pradhan said the country accords high priority to a gas-based and clean economy, and is planning to more than double the share of natural gas in the energy mix to 15 per cent.

"... in the last four years, we have made giant strides in oil and gas sector. However, the best is yet to come. No country, international organization or company alone can go far without partnership and collaboration," Pradhan said.

He said the government has taken steps to overhaul the policy framework encompassing the entire energy value chain to ensure energy security for the country. One of the most important areas of focus to ensure energy security is the E&P sector.

The government has also brought about other policy reforms like coal-bed methane policy, incentivise enhanced recovery to raise output of oil and gas from matured fields, and exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon from all fields, he said.

"Energy consumption in India in the past decade has increased at a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 per cent. In future too, energy consumption in India is expected to rise by more than 4 per cent annually.

"Globally, majority of the growth in energy demand is going to come from India. Our oil and gas demand is expected to increase nearly threefold from 229 million metric tonnes currently to 607 million metric tonens in 2040," Pradhan said.

Though natural gas forms a relatively small share of India's energy mix currently, the country intends to create a robust natural gas trading hub and the process to formalise the concept has already been initiated by the government, he said.

"Gas infrastructure projects of over 8 billion US dollars are under implementation across the country. We aim to increase the share of natural gas in the energy mix from the current 6.5 per cent to 15 per cent by 2022," he said.

Further, he said that a National Data Repository, a database of all geo-scientific data of hydrocarbon resources in the country, has been set up to provide ready access to interested companies.

--IANS

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