Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday opened the door to international investors to join India in its fast growing energy segment with a target of 500 billion dollars worth of investment and has given an account of the future plans of India to emerge as the largest refining hub in the world over the next few years.
Addressing the India Energy Week 2026, the Prime Minister urged global companies to consider opportunities in the entire energy value chain, which includes oil and gas exploration, oil and gas refining, LNG infrastructure, and city gas distribution. According to him, energy transformation is the key to the economic growth and development targets of India.
Our ambitions lie in our energy sector. It has investment opportunities of 500 billion dollars, the Prime Minister said and urged investors to make, innovate, scale and invest in India. He observed that India has already become one of the largest global exporters of certain sectors within the energy industry and was striving to increase its status.
According to Modi, India is setting out to get 100 billion dollars worth of investments in the petroleum and gas industry by 2030. In this push, the country is to increase its oil refining capacity to over 300 million tonnes per annum out of approximately 260 million tonnes per annum. He added that this increasing refining foundation is a great opportunity to investors who are considering long term prospects within India.
Another change brought about by the Prime Minister was on the exploration sector. He reported that India has opened up massive spaces to oil and gas exploration, lessened no-go zones, simplified regulations owing to industry response.
He says that over 170 exploration blocks have already been given out and that the government intends to increase the exploration region to one million squares kilometres. He also cited Andaman and Nicobar basin as a new hydrocarbon find, which is still under exploration at the deep sea as part of the Samudra Manthan project.
Another great subject of his speech was liquefied natural gas. Modi indicated that India aims to get 15 percent of its entire energy requirement fulfilled by LNG. In order to do so, the nation is investing in all LNG value chain, such as import terminals, re-gasification facilities, storage, and transportation infrastructure.
He reported that there existed immense opportunities of the private and foreign investment in construction of the LNG ports, pipelines and other associated infrastructure.
The Prime Minister also announced that India is also in the process of producing LNG transport vessels in the country. He mentioned a new ship building project of 70,000 crore rupees, which will be expected to enhance the maritime and energy transportation of India.
Another rapidly expanding division, he said, is city gas distribution, which is being extended to more cities throughout the country by piped gas networks. India also has a large and escalating population, and as the industrial demand rises, the demand of petrochemical products and down energy infrastructure is therefore projected to rise considerably.
Modi indicated that India is also in the process of carrying out extensive reforms to open up the hydrocarbons industry to be investor friendly. He indicated that the nation is not only on energy security path but also on the path of long-term energy independence, as it is also developing a competitive ecosystem in exports.
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India Energy Week 2026 was an event that took place in 2026 and attracted policymakers, industry leaders and innovators around the world to discuss about energy security, sustainability and inclusive growth as India presented itself as a significant destination in the global energy investment.
