India Hosts Asia Petroleum Summit, Energy Diplomacy Enters Harvest Stage

India has been troubled by energy security for many years. In order to ensure energy security and play a more important role on the world stage, India has carried out a series of fruitful energy diplomacy activities in recent years. Public opinion believes that energy diplomacy has become the top priority of India's economic diplomacy and has begun to enter the harvest stage.

India has just successfully hosted what is known as the first "Asian Oil Summit". During the meeting, Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Aiyar consulted with the oil ministers of major oil producing and consuming countries in Asia on issues such as jointly establishing the Asian oil market, strengthening oil exploration cooperation, and negotiating energy imports, and achieved positive results.

Among them, a 25-year LNG cooperation agreement signed between India and Iran is particularly eye-catching. According to the agreement between the two parties, India plans to import 7.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Iran every year. At the same time, Iran also decided to sell 20% of its shares to allow India to participate in the development of one of its major oil fields. In addition, the much-watched Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline project is also expected to make progress.

In addition, on the eve of the "Asian Petroleum Summit", Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Naimi proposed to India to build a refinery with Indian companies and invited Indian companies to bid for its next round of natural gas exploration contracts. Public opinion believes that this move shows that Saudi Arabia's strategic focus has begun to shift to the "vast" and "rapidly growing" Indian market. The head of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will visit New Delhi within this month and work out the details with Oil and Gas Corporation of India and Indian Oil Corporation.

India and Russia have also maintained close cooperation in the energy field. India knows very well that in order to ensure stable energy supply, it is unrealistic to rely solely on West Asia. In October last year, during his visit to Russia, Aiyar stated that India would seek to establish a strategic energy alliance with Russia. He believes that establishing a strategic energy alliance with Russia is crucial to India's energy security and national security.

Efforts to diversify crude oil import channels are also one of India's important strategic measures to ensure energy security. At present, India has obtained shares in oil and gas exploration or exploration projects in Russia, Sudan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Libya and other countries, with a total investment of US$3 billion. India also plans to invest US$1 billion annually in oil and gas projects in the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America by 2015. In addition, India has also established a mechanism for consultation and coordination on energy issues with major oil importing countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany.

Energy shortage has always been a serious concern for India. It is estimated that if new oil fields cannot be discovered early, India's current domestic proven oil reserves can only be used until 2016. Compared with the current situation of scarcity of oil resources, India's average daily oil consumption reaches more than 2 million barrels, of which 70% depends on imports. Experts believe that with the expansion of economic scale, the energy gap will gradually increase and the degree of dependence on foreign countries will continue to deepen. Energy security has become a hidden danger to India's national economic security.

India believes that to ensure energy security, it must strengthen cooperation with relevant countries and create a good atmosphere for its economic construction. It is especially important to strengthen exchanges and dialogue with Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan to form a " Pan-Asia" unity to achieve the goal of common energy security.

Public opinion believes that the purpose of India's energy diplomacy is not entirely to find new energy sources for the country, but also hopes to play an important role in building a new energy architecture for the world. As the rise in international crude oil prices puts increasing pressure on the national economy, the Indian government will become more active in energy diplomacy. This will also become a distinctive feature of India's diplomacy for a long time to come.