PM Modi calls for ‘responsible’ pricing of crude oil

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the world needs to move towards responsible pricing of crude oil.

In his address at the inauguration of the India Energy Forum, he said that there should be efforts to move towards transparent and flexible markets for oil and gas.

“For too long, the world has seen crude prices on a roller-coaster. We need to move towards responsible pricing. We have to work towards transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas,” he said.

Noting that the Indian energy sector has moved towards reforms and transparency in the past six years, the Prime Minister said that the drivers have been efforts to move towards a gas-based economy, cleaner use of fossil fuels, particularly petroleum and coal, and greater reliance on domestic sources to drive bio-fuels among others.

He reiterated the government’s target of achieving the renewable energy of 450 GW by 2030.

Modi said that to increase domestic production of natural gas and to bring uniformity in the market price discovery of gas, the government has announced natural gas marketing reforms earlier this month.

“They will give greater marketing freedom in the sale of natural gas through e-bidding. India’s first automated national-level gas trading platform was launched in June this year. This prescribes standard procedures to discover the market price of gas,” he said.

Of the newly-announced vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ or ‘self-reliant’ India, he said that a self-reliant India will be a force multiplier for the global economy.

“India’s energy will energise the world,” he said.