Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, on Monday held a roundtable in Tokyo with industry leaders of Japan on opportunities for Indo-Japanese collaboration across the energy value chain. “We discussed how the Indo-Pacific’s energy stability and sustainable growth will be shaped by India’s massive scale particularly underlined by the unprecedented initiatives to further expand and strengthen the energy infrastructure under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, and Japan’s cutting edge technological leadership,” the minister said in a post on X.
At a time when India is opening up over $500 billion in investment opportunities across exploration and production (E&P), LNG, city gas distribution, hydrogen, shipping, and new fuels, the two countries perfectly complement each other -- India has a large and young workforce backed by a conducive business ecosystem and far reaching reforms driven by the Make in India spirit to ‘Make in India for the World’, while Japan offers advanced technology and innovation, infrastructure leadership in green and environmental technologies, the minister further elaborated.
He highlighted that India’s policy reforms with 100 per cent FDI, transparent bidding, year-round exploration licensing have created a predictable, investor-friendly energy environment. India’s 6 major oil and gas PSUs recorded revenues of around $315 billion in FY 2024-25 which is about 8 per cent of India’s GDP.
Such scale demonstrates India’s role as a global energy anchor, and a reliable partner for Japanese investors and technology leaders, the minister pointed out. Earlier this month, Puri had highlighted that “from the sands of Rajasthan to the sea depths of the KG Basin - Bharat is mapping its own energy future."
While 1 million square km offshore area is now open for oilfield exploration, 99 per cent of 'No-Go' areas have been cleared, he said. The oil and gas blocks being offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) have already garnered attention from global and domestic energy players, and Round X is expected to set new benchmarks for participation and investment, he added.