Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the country would expand its refining capacity and embrace cleaner fuels such as gas, hydrogen, and renewables to meet its growing energy demand while committing to reducing its carbon footprint sharply in coming years. Modi said that India’s refining capacity would increase from about 250 million tons/year currently to 400 million tons/year by 2025. He added that the government also prioritized increasing domestic gas production. The natural gas share in India’s energy mix is targeted to increase from 6% to 15% by 2030.
According to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s per-capita energy consumption is still well below the world’s average, indicating that domestic energy demand is bound to grow in the coming years. IOCL Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya also said that India’s crude demand was recovering faster than estimated, led by gasoline demand, which had already regained its pre-pandemic levels. The year-end festival season is also expected to increase the overall oil product consumption further.
Modi said renewables would play a key role in India’s future energy basket. According to him, India aims at expanding renewable energy installed capacity by 175 GW in the next two years. By 2030, the capacity addition will reach 450 GW, he added.
