Good times are ahead: Hardeep Singh Puri on natural gas availability

Puri said India's investments in Mozambique and Russia assets hold major potential

Ongoing strategic investment into assets abroad, alongside gas purchases being made by India, will soon allow the country to access as much gas as it needs, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on the sidelines of India Energy Week (IEW 2025).

 

“It’s a question of another year, or 18 months. You can have all the gas you want, including in those sectors that haven’t been prioritised so far. Good times are ahead,” Puri said, speaking at the closing session at IEW.

 

Currently, gas imports mostly feed the city gas distribution sector and the fertilisers segment. India’s stated goal is to increase natural gas consumption to 15 per cent in its energy mix, up from about 6 per cent now.

 

Referring to a gas project in Mozambique, in which several public-sector majors have a cumulative 30 per cent stake, Puri said it had “tremendous potential”.

 

Operated by TotalEnergies, the second-largest LNG player in the world and a leader in Africa, the Mozambique LNG project has around 65 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

 

BPRL Ventures Mozambique BV, an overseas subsidiary of Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL, holds 10 per cent participating interest in the Area 1 concession. ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the overseas arm of domestic exploration and production (E&P) major ONGC, has a 16 per cent interest. Another E&P player, Oil India (OIL), holds a 4 per cent interest.

 

Officially under force majeure, the project is on hold due to security concerns, but officials have said there are plans for it to restart this year.

 

He also said the Sakhalin-1 oil field in Russia, in which OVL acquired a 20 per cent stake back in 2001, is a good investment.

 

OVL lost control of the oilfield in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, owing to Russia disbanding certain US entities that operated the oilfield and transferring the project and all of its assets and equipment to a new operator.

 

Subsequently, US sanctions-led banking restrictions on Moscow have hamstrung OVL’s efforts to pay its share of the abandonment fund for Russia’s Sakhalin-1 field due to banking restrictions. This has obstructed the company’s path to regain a 20 per cent share in the oilfield.

 

Despite India’s push for equity oil, as initially agreed, Russia and Rosneft PJSC have maintained their position on paying dividends instead.

 

India currently imports about half of its natural gas consumption. Puri stressed that the series of long-term sourcing deals signed by public-sector oil marketing companies at IEW will also ensure stability in LNG supplies.

 

IOCL and BPCL on Thursday signed separate agreements with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC). The sourcing agreements are 14 years and five years long, respectively.

 

Puri described India’s biofuel programme as “remarkable”, citing the current capacity of 1,700 crore litres for ethanol blending, while discussing the potential beyond the current 20 per cent blending target.