India Demonstrated Resilience In Face Of Global Energy Crisis: Hardeep Puri

New Delhi:

India has demonstrated great resilience in the face of the global energy crisis, said Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, adding that the government’s measures to minimize and mitigate the volatility served the purpose.

Speaking about fuel prices at a media event, minister Puri said prices in India have been contained in comparison to an exponential rise in developed countries. Most of the developed nations have witnessed significant inflation rise in gasoline prices – an increase of almost 40 per cent from July 2021 to August 2022.

In India, gasoline prices have been reduced by 2.12 per cent.

The gas price of all the major trading hubs has seen a massive increase during the period.

“Henry Hub of USA has seen an increase of 140 per cent. JKM Marker has seen an increase of almost 257 per cent and the UK, NBP has increased by 281 per cent. While in India CNG and PNG prices have been increased by only 71 per cent,” his Ministry said in a statement.

Even on the LPG front, in the past 24 months, Saudi CP price – which is India’s import benchmark — almost increased by 303 per cent. During the same period, the LPG price in India increased by less than a tenth of that figure – 28 per cent.

He reaffirmed India’s move towards a ‘gas-based economy’ by connecting Indian consumers through the City Gas Distribution, enhancing regasification capacities, expanding pipeline networks and setting up CNG stations.

Further, he outlined the achievement of 10 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol in May 2022, ahead of the November 2022 deadline, setting up of 2G refineries to make ethanol, and a host of other initiatives is a symbol of the government’s resolve towards just energy transitions.

“The Green Hydrogen Mission, under which the Ministry is facilitating setting-up pilot scale and commercial scale green hydrogen manufacturing plants by refineries is a part of this commitment,” the statement said.

Also, the significance of the various social welfare schemes like the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojna and its role in ending energy poverty helped.

During the event, minister Puri also unveiled the logo for India Energy Week (IEW) 2023, the Ministry’s flagship event taking place from February 6-8, 2023 in Bengaluru.

It would be a flagship event of the Ministry, and also the first major Energy event once India takes over G20 Presidency.

The event is expected to provide an unprecedented opportunity for regional and international leaders and CEOs to collaborate on strategic policy and technical knowledge sharing for energy justice and energy transitions.

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