Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called upon the Union and State Governments to work together to create awareness among the public on the need for curbing energy subsidies.
“Energy remains under priced in our country with coal, petroleum products and natural gas prices well below international prices,” he said.
The country must undertake a phased rationalisation of energy prices to bring them in line with world prices, he said.
The Prime Minister was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the Integrated Refinery Expansion Project of BPCL-KR here on Monday.
To achieve the target of rapid growth, he said India needs adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices. Oil and gas will continue to meet a very large part of our energy requirements for years to come.
However, the country remains dependent on imports for meeting a major portion of its crude oil requirements. For this, large scale investments in exploration for oil and gas within the country, acquisition of oil and gas producing assets overseas and strengthening of marketing and distribution infrastructure in the country are needed, he said.
The Government is also committed to encouraging companies to undertake domestic exploration for oil and gas, he added.
India today is not only self sufficient in meeting its demand of petroleum products but is also making substantial exports. During 2011-12, the country exported 60.8 million tonnes of petroleum products worth Rs 2.85 lakh crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Petroleum of Natural Gas, said that his Ministry has chalked out programmes to make the country self sufficient in oil and gas production by 2030. The shale gas policy has found new avenues to make the country self sufficient.
The Petroleum Ministry, he said, is working on a detailed road map to end the country’s energy dependence by 2030.