300 bn dollar energy investment coming to India in 10 yrs: Pradhan

Abu Dhabi [U.A.E.] May 13 (ANI): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said about 300 billion dollars will be invested in the energy sector in next 10 years.
The petroleum minister said this at the Indian Embassy while addressing over 250 Indian professionals, business leaders and community representatives working in the United Arab Emirates.
Pradhan informed the gathering that India has become the third largest energy consumer in the world.
"After US (United States) and China, India consumes maximum primary energy. But, India figures on the list of least per capita energy consuming countries. What does it mean? According to energy analysts, out of Rs. 100 worth energy sale in 2040, Rs. 33 will be sold in India," Pradhan said.
He added that energy is one of the three to four components of any developing country.
"There are four pillars of energy: It should be affordable, accessible, green, and sustainable. Once there were concerns in India regarding energy, but now it is becoming a happening energy spot in the world," Pradhan said.
In his speech, Pradhan also praised Prime Minister Modi and said no other government has been able to do the works that have been done during the past four years.
During the speech, he also criticised Prime Minister's detractors who have questioned his international visits.
Talking about the impact of such visits of Prime Minister Modi, Pradhan said India saved about Rs. 10,000 crore after renegotiating the long term contract of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) with Qatar.
'This is our scope. Who would like to lose it?" he asked.
He also briefed the gathering that how Modi government changed the lives of poor rural women through Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
The PMUY or the Ujjwala Scheme is a subsidy scheme launched to provide LPG gas connection to the families living below poverty line to protect women and children from the smoke emitted during the usage of firewood for cooking purposes.
Under the scheme, the government will provide Rs. 1,600 per gas connection in the next three years and aims to supply 5 crore connections by the end of 2019.
"The HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) started selling liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in Mumbai in 1955 and by 2014 there were 130 million LPG connections in India. Within four years, our government added new 100 million LPG consumers," Pradhan said.
The event was organised by the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and IBPG-Abu Dhabi.
Later, Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Group CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber flagged off first consignment of 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude for Mangalore Cavern on Saturday.
During the day, Pradhan also held bilateral meeting with H.E. Dr. Jaber. Minister Pradhan was accompanied by Ambassador Navdeep Suri, senior officials and CEOs for Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
Pradhan is visiting UAE to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost. (ANI)