Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, in a media event held on 9^th September 2022, witnessed signing of contracts for 31 Discovered Small Fields (DSF) blocks under DSF bid round-III and 4 CBM blocks under CBM bid round-V awarded to 14 E&P domestic companies.

During the event, Minister also unveiled the logo for India Energy Week (IEW) 2023, the Ministry’s flagship event taking place from 6^th-8^th February 2023 in Bengaluru, India.

In the Open House following the Contract Exchange event, the Minister highlighted the following:

• India has demonstrated great resilience in the face of global energy crisis;

• Government of India has taken several measures to minimize and mitigate the volatility of global crude oil and gas prices. Fuel price rise in India have been contained in comparison to exponential rise in developed countries. Most of the developed nations have witnessed significant inflation rise in Gasoline price by almost 40% during July 21 to Aug’22, while in India, gasoline price has reduced by 2.12%;

• The gas price of all the major trading hubs has seen massive increase during July 21 to Aug’22. Henry Hub of USA has seen increase of 140%. JKM Marker has seen increase of almost 257% and UK, NBP has increased by 281%.  While in India CNG and PNG prices has been increased by only 71%.

• Even on LPG front, In the past 24 months, Saudi CP price (our import benchmark) almost increased by 303%. During the same period, the LPG price in India (Delhi) increased by less than a tenth of that figure i.e 28%

• under the visionary leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Government has been undertaking various initiatives to attract more E&P investment to increase self-reliance in the energy sector;

• India’s move towards a ‘gas based economy’ by connecting Indian consumers through the City Gas Distribution, enhancing regasification capacities, expanding pipeline networks and setting up CNG stations;

• Achievement of 10% blending of ethanol in petrol in May 2022, ahead of the November 2022 deadline, setting up of 2G refineries to make ethanol, and a host of other initiatives, is a symbol of Government’s resolve towards just energy transitions. The Green Hydrogen Mission, under which the Ministry is facilitating setting-up pilot scale and commercial scale green hydrogen manufacturing plants by refineries is a part of this commitment;

• The significance of the various social welfare schemes like the Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojna and its role in ending energy poverty, ensuring social upliftment and as a catalyst of social change cannot be emphasized enough.

On India Energy Week 2023, Minister stated that it would be a flagship event of the Ministry, and also the first major Energy event once India takes over G20 Presidency. The event will provide an unprecedented opportunity for regional and international leaders and CEOs to come together for strategic policy and technical knowledge sharing for energy justice and energy transitions

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RKJ/M