New Delhi:

India is a shining example of affordable clean cooking gas for developing nations, and the Indian model can be replicated in countries of the Global South, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told NDTV today at the India Energy Week 2025 (IEW).

“Reasonably priced cooking medium is not a challenge in the West, it’s not a challenge in the US and Europe but for countries in Africa, for countries of the Global South, it is a challenge and I think the Indian model where the developmental challenges are more akin to what the countries of the Global South have, I think that is a model that can be replicated,” the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas said, adding India has decided to intensify negotiation over this.

“I’ll give you an example. The Deputy Prime Minister of Tanzania wanted to have some more information. I introduced him to the chairman of IOCL [Indian Oil], and he said a Tanzanian oil company was already in touch with one of the vendors, and they already supplied a hundred thousand cooktops,” Mr Puri said.

“So things are happening at a breakneck speed. Now the government will also focus on clean cooking gas and I think by the time we have the next ministerial meeting in Goa for the IEW, we’ll be able to give a concrete shape to it,” Mr Puri said.

The IEW exhibition has grown exponentially to become the world’s new meeting place for energy professionals, with millions of dollars of business conducted onsite, positioning it at the very heart of international business.

A key facilitator of dialogue between international and regional producers, the event provides international exhibitors with the opportunity to network with key buyers from over 120 countries across the full energy value chain.

On India and Qatar’s relationship with regards to liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Union Minister said India has a long-term agreement with Qatar which will last till 2028, and another has been signed to add 20 more years to the agreement.

“… In any discussion on a growing economy, some economy which is growing at 6.5-6.8 per cent, energy becomes a very vital component… I think Qatar is in the market for more sales of LNG, we are in the market for more purchases, but these are commercial agreements which will be discussed during visits,” Mr Puri said.

“As far as the US is concerned, we are already buying $20 billion of energy with them. The fact that the newly elected president of the US wants more energy to come into the world market for energy to be more competitively priced, I mean that’s something that India looks forward to,” Mr Puri said.

Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Minister of Petroleum and VP Delcy Rodriguez, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais, and First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Pavel Sorokin at India Energy Week 2025, in New Delhi on Tuesday
| Photo Credit: PIB

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas H.E. Hardeep Singh Puri said India was planning to increase the usage of liquified natural gas (LNG) from 6% to 15%, for which long-term agreements have been signed with Qatar.

Mr. Puri was inaugurating the third edition of the India Energy Week 2025 at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in New Delhi on Tuesday (February 11, 2025). Stating that India was not facing any energy deficit, he said as part of adopting clean energy, the country was installing massive LNG storage infrastructure and increasing the production of bio fuels to help achieve 20% usage of green energy. The bio fuel adoption is planned to be achieved through the provision of incentives and subsidies for electrolysers, he added. 

The Union Minister pointed out that as part of having a diversified portfolio of energy requirements for long-term purposes, 500 million tonnes of biofuel feedstock will be used, along with the scaling of hydrogen energy to achieve 5 million metric tonnes by 2030. Under this hydrogen project, $96 billion was pumped into hydrogen investments, and for LNG, $30 billion, in refining and petrochemical expansion.

India has achieved 100% electrification and has made a mark in providing access to clean cooking in the country through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), Mr. Puri said.

After participating in a session on ‘Shaping the new world energy order and trade map’, he launched the open acreage licensing policy X, in which 25 blocks measuring 1,91,986 sq. km were identified for hydrocarbon exploration and licensing policy in the country.

New Delhi:

Nuclear power will be part of all energy discussions as its commercialisation has not happened yet, largely in the Indian context, even though the country signed a treaty with the US, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.

This assumes significance in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US later this week where he will meet US President Donald Trump and have discussion on a series of subjects, including energy.

Earlier on Monday during a presser on India Energy Week 2025, which began here on Tuesday, Hardeep Puri had said, “I will be surprised if sourcing of energy from the US does not figure in the discussions (of PM and Trump).” Hardeep Puri had also stated that with President (Trump) saying he wants to see global energy prices coming down, he wants more and more energy to come to the market. For countries like India it is a positive development, he said.

During ministerial panel discussion at IEW25, Hardeep Puri stated, “Nuclear (power) provides an efficient cost-effective thing but you have to go to a particular route and I’m sure that this is going to be a discussion point in major wherever such discussions take place. I see that happening.” About the commercial expansion of nuclear power, the minister stated, “We had signed an India-US civilian nuclear energy deal. We had an India-specific IAEA safeguards agreement but somehow the commercial contracting never took place… But now we’re talking about small modular reactors.” Earlier this month in her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a Rs 20,000-crore nuclear mission with an aim of developing at least 100GW of nuclear energy by 2047.

She had said that for an active partnership with the private sector to meet this goal, amendments to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act will be taken up, she informed the House.

A Nuclear Energy Mission for research & development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) with an outlay of Rs 20,000 crore will be set up.

At least five indigenously developed SMRs will be operationalised by 2033.

Talking about the Trump administration, Hardeep Puri recalled that during his last term as India’s permanent representative to the United Nations in New York he had the “great privilege of knowing Trump when he was not the President”.

“I have the privilege of living in the Trump Tower. He used to visit us every year to have the annual get together of the residents of World Trump Tower. I was the minister in waiting when he came here for first official visit. So I have watched the unfolding events with more than a sense of interest,” he said.

He also pointed out that we live in an interdependent world and 50 per cent of our(India’s) GDP is in the external sector.

The new aspect of (US) adminstration is music to my ears when it says that more energy should come in the market, he stated.

More energy means that prices should come down for a country like India, which is both consumer and producer, he said.

There has never been shortage of energy in the world, he said, adding that there is something called energy poverty.

There are 1.18 billion people who are energy poor. There are 750 million who are lacking electricity and 2 billion with clean cooking solutions.

“I think we can solve that problem easily. That problem should be resolve quickly,” he suggested.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)