New Delhi, Nov. 1: Projecting a growth of 40 per cent in India’s oil demand in the next decade, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday stressed on securing energy supplies at affordable prices to meet the requirement of the rapidly expanding economy.
“India needs adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices to meet the demand of its rapidly growing economy,” he said inaugurating the Petrotech-2010 oil and gas conference here.
India, which consumed over 138 million tonnes of fuel in 2009-10, imports three-fourth of its oil needs and one-third of its gas requirement.
It imported $ 79.5 billion worth of 159.2 million tonnes of crude oil.
“Demand over the next 10 years will increase by over 40 per cent, whereas the increase in supply from the maturing (domestic) oilfields is expected to be around 12 per cent,” he said. Domestic sources are inadequate to meet demand for energy, while domestic oil production was at 34 million tonnes last fiscal.
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