New Delhi: Even as the investment in world energy market is fast switching towards electric and renewables, India is set to further strengthen its carbon footprint with an investment of over $100 billion over the next five years till 2024.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, however, said that 60 per cent of this investment or $60 billion would be towards developing gas infrastructure including pipelines, LNG terminals and city gas distribution (CGD) network that would expand the use of this clean fuel throughout the country.
"India is investing close to $60 billion in developing gas infrastructure by 2024 that is part of the massive $100 billion spendings by that time in the overall oil and gas sector," Pradhan said speaking at EnRich 2019, KPMG in India's Annual Energy and Natural Resources Conclave.
The minister said that the investment would go into ensuring that per capita energy consumption in India grows. An average Indian gets only a third of the per capita consumption of energy that the UN believes is necessary for human well-being.
"We took lead in the global energy transition by promoting International Solar Alliance and today more than 80 countries have joined this alliance. India has a huge appetite for energy and will be a driver of global energy demand in coming decades," Pradhan said.
He, however, added that country's oil and gas industry would continue to play an important part in country's total energy mix even during the transition. In the process, the companies in the sector would also transition from oil and gas to energy players, he said.
Pradhan said that the government was also moving swiftly on its goal to increase ethanol doping in petrol to reduce country's import dependence on oil. Ethanol blending in petrol has gone up to 6 per cent from 0.67 per cent in 2013 and the government plans to increase the blending of ethanol to 10 per cent by 2022.