Quitol (South Goa): Terming the second edition of India Energy Week (IEW) in Goa a success, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri announced that IEW 2025 will take place in New Delhi at Yashobhoomi from February 11-14 and the one in 2026 will again return to IPSHEM, ONGC, in Quitol, South Goa. Speaking at the closing ceremony of IEW 2024, Puri said that while at the first edition of IEW in 2023, there was an impression that there was more of the traditional fossil fuel industry, at IEW 2024, the focus is evenly balanced out and even tipped in favour of green energy.
Lauding the immensely successful organisation of the global energy conclave, Puri said, “The number of exhibitors is 30 percent higher. The footfall is about 40,000-45,000. India Energy Week has demonstrated that in each statistic, there has been a growth.”
The Union minister said that while India will account for 25 percent of the incremental global oil demand over the next two decades and the growth will not be restricted to just exploration and production activities but will also extend to biofuels. “We couldn’t get more than 1.5 percent biofuel blending up to 2014. Today we’ve got 12 percent blending in the entire country, and we’re going to take it to 20 percent. So I think that the best is yet to come,” the Union Minister added.
Moreover, Puri said that ethanol, biofuels, compressed biogas and green hydrogen are poised to see immense growth in India. “I think the world is just beginning to see that green hydrogen may not be as distant a story as was initially thought. And at least the Indian estimates of 5 million metric tons per annum by 2030 is very much an underestimation,” he added.
“At a time when the global energy landscape is going to change, India is diversifying its sources of supply. Newer players of traditional energy are coming into the market. Existing players are recalibrating their positions. But they are making plans for the next 10 years. They don’t only want to be suppliers, they want to enhance their investments in our energy sector across, right from E&P, upstream, downstream to the technological innovations and processes that are going on. So, the messages received from the global players is a very positive one,” he added.
Speaking alongside the Union Minister, Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, remarked that India has changed from just being one of the markets of the world for global energy companies to a country where global entities have established back offices, employing thousands of experts, and manufacturing facilities.