Amitabh Roy
Panaji, NFPost: The Goa energy week serves the twofold objective of charting a course for the future of energy, local and global, as well as hard selling India to the rest of the world as a major energy hub and super power.
At the local level, PM wants to provide cheaper energy to his domestic constituency while keeping clean environment targets in focus while on the global level he wants India to be projected as a responsible growing economy that will not hesitate to go that extra mile to cut emissions and check environmental decline.
But in all the talks on clean energy, Qatar, the country which is betting big on gas, and the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) hit a discordant note. Pointing out that clean energy transition is easier said than done, this segment hit out at naysayers and stressed that the world will need fossil fuels even as it transitions to green energy. While all these countries acknowledged the need for multiple pathways to energy transition, they also called for continuing investments in fossil fuels.
Stressing on the importance of energy security for each nation, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais said that one of the key issues for the OPEC is to ensure investments in fossil fuels to meet the demand that exists.
“The meaning and the impact of the word energy security is underestimated. It is the cornerstone for societal development and economic growth for every nation. Oil accounts for 30 percent of the world’s energy mix, 40-45 percent if you include gas. For us, one of the key issues is ensuring investments. There is a global consensus that oil demand is going to grow. And we need investments to meet that demand,” said OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais.
OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais said OPEC has advocated for multiple pathways for energy transitions.
“Security is paramount to ensuring that everybody has access to energy. So, make investments in fossil fuels even as you make investments in direct capture, CCUS and climate tech. We cannot advocate stopping investments in fossil fuels,” added OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled “Ensuring energy security for nations and industry in a VUCA world” at India Energy Week (IEW) 2024, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said VUCA characterises the world for the last 2-3 yrs. But many of the crises we faced on the energy front were self-inflicted.
“Because of this, a transition towards green energy gained pace and investments in fossil fuels dried up. It is not like there is a shortage of energy in the world. It is that it is not being made available,” said Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.
VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
“What is a reasonable cost of energy? Let’s say that if the green hydrogen story takes off, how will oil producers and consumers react to it? We must ensure that energy transition from this point to the next is done in an orderly way,” said Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri was part of the panel discussion along with OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi and Guyana’s Minister for Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat.
As we mark our 50th anniversary under the theme of Panchatattvon Ka Maharatna, HPCL is dedicated to achieving its Net Zero Target under the five elements of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Ether,” remarked Shri Pushp Kumar Joshi, Chairman and Managing Director of HPCL.
Vedanta CEO Anil Agrawal clarified on his company’s future plans candidly. He reiterated that his company was still committed to its plan to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit, rubbishing reports that the government may have put on the backburner the metals and mining company’s plan to foray into the sector.
“Last year in July, Foxconn and Vedanta group called off their joint venture that had ambitious plans to invest $19.5 billion to set up a manufacturing unit in Gujarat. Both said they would go ahead with their respective semiconductor business ventures with new partners. Since then, there have been reports that the plan may get shelved, which Vedanta has denied,” reports Money Control.com by quoting Vedanta CEO Anil Agrawal.
“It is not a child’s play. We are doing the semiconductor project. We are there. We are submitting, we are talking. We are working on it,” Vedanta CEO Anil Agrawal said in response to media reports that the company has not submitted a final plan to the government for approval.
Sharing his vision for the company, Vedanta CEO Anil Agrawal said in the coming year, Vedanta will have a revenue of about $30 billion.
“We’ll have about $7.5 billion profit, the total debt in the company will be $12 billion or $11 billion.” He also spoke about plans to increase production of various products such as oil and gas, zinc, silver, copper, iron ore, and aluminium, by nearly 30% in current calendar year,” said Vedanta CEO Anil Agrawal.
BPCL Director Sukhmal Jain said there is a need for aligning cost, efficiency in the supply chain and taxation policies to significantly increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy mix.
He said this while addressing the panel on “Developing LNG markets and infrastructure”. BPCL Director Sukhmal Jain added that while oil demand is expected to grow at 2.5-5% annually, LNG demand could see a similar growth trajectory. “Cost, efficiency in supply and taxation have to be aligned for natural gas promotion,” said BPCL Director Sukhmal Jain.
