Investing in energy projects is “a nonideological, nonpolitical situation,” Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Nikkei in an interview.
For energy imports, “price is the only criteria, because our companies, whether they are in the private sector or in the public sector, they issue tenders for import at the point of delivery,” Puri said. “So if you are able to deliver it from a farther distance at a cheaper price, we are quite happy.”
India is the world’s fourth-largest LNG net importer and a growing market for natural gas. Its moves on Russian energy are seen as a bellwether of other Global South countries that don’t align with Western sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
Puri cited India’s goal of increasing natural gas to 15% of its energy mix in 2030 — a rough doubling that he said would require $60 billion in investment.
Western countries have reduced their imports of oil and piped-in natural gas from Russia to squeeze Moscow’s revenue over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. European countries and Japan are still procuring liquefied natural gas from existing projects.
India’s oil and natural gas minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said his country welcomes imports from all over the world. (Photo by Ryosuke Hanafusa)Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to use sanctions to block the development of new LNG plants in Russia, the world’s fourth-largest LNG exporter.
On the possibility of Indian investment in Russia’s Sakhalin-2 LNG project, Puri would not rule it out.
“We are open to investments all over the world” in energy assets, he said, after noting that India’s public-sector Oil and Natural Gas Corp. had invested in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in the Russian Far East.
India and Russia “have been in touch” on investment, Puri said, and pointed to their large investments in each other’s energy businesses.
“But those are company-to-company decisions,” he said. “You know, the government doesn’t … do any investing or buying or anything like that. It’s our companies, both in the private sector and the public sector, which do that.”
India imports about 90% of its crude oil and around half of its natural gas. Puri said its crude oil consumption will continue to increase and added that “we would like to be more of a gas-based economy.”
Most of India’s LNG imports come from the U.S. and Qatar. Puri did not say whether India would step up purchases from Russia in the future.
Natural gas emits less greenhouse gases than oil or coal when burned. India has called on Japanese companies to invest in related businesses in the country.
“Our demand for energy is growing at three times the global average,” Puri said.
“If you have an economy of the size of India, and you have a requirement of energy which is going up at that pace, you welcome imports from all over the place,” he said.
Puri said the Quad partnership of Japan, the U.S., Australia and India “is not only of political, but, I think, of economic significance also.” He expressed the view that cooperation on energy is also possible.
source : asia.nikkei