India has made significant progress toward "low-carbon development," the Union Minister said

India's energy policy is "mindful of commitments" to the global commons, the green transition, and ensuring energy availability, affordability, and security for all, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep S Puri has said.

Chairing a roundtable on 'Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership' in Houston, Texas (USA), he stated that India has made significant progress toward "low-carbon development", notably by utilizing cutting-edge technologies like hydrogen and biofuels.

Puri emphasized that despite the current difficult energy environment, India's commitment to energy transitions and its ambitions for climate mitigation will not weaken, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said.

During his address, Puri also pointed out that India will account for 25% of the rise in global energy demand over the next two decades.

Puri stated that India was undertaking major reforms to rationalize and incentivise Exploration & Production (E&P) by reducing the no-go areas by 99% opening up approximately 1 million sq kms, making good quality geological data available through the National Depository Registry etc.

As a gesture of the government of India's commitment to the E&P sector, the minister launched the special Coal-Bed Methane (CBM) round & offshore bid rounds offering over 2.3 lakh sq km in Houston, known as the oil and gas capital of the world.

The roundtable, organized by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, saw the participation of Indian Energy PSUs as well as the senior leadership from major energy firms, including Exxonmobil, Chevron, Chieniere, Lanzatech, Honeywell, BakerHughes, Emerson, Tellurian, and many more.