Davos: Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri met Nigerian minister of state for petroleum resources Heineken Lokpobiri, and CEO of Nigerian oil major NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos, Switzerland.
Nigeria is a major hydrocarbons producer in Africa and its production is the mainstay of the country’s economy. Oil and natural gas revenue is the country’s primary source of foreign exchange earnings.
On the contrary, India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer and is dependent on crude oil from various sources in the global market to meet its domestic demand.
During the WEF 2024 earlier this week, Puri said the energy consumption in India is growing at three times the global average and will account for 25 per cent in the next decades or so.
“If you look at the global scenario today, India’s consumption is growing at three times the global average. In the next 20 years or so, India will account for 25 per cent of the energy demand globally,” the minister said.
“Today what happens in India is important for the rest of the world…all these new challenges that we have to face, we have to face them pragmatically. I say this not to provoke anyone, but to just mention. If India had chosen in that point of time not to be pragmatic, we would have had a situation where oil would have gone beyond USD 200 dollars. Why? We import 85 per cent of our crude, and we have to deal with the issues of availability, affordability, and sustainability. If India had allowed itself to be put into a situation where we were to draw on the same sources.” (ANI)
