Help at hand in India
Conservation, EVs and renewables can play their part. But India wants much more yield from its own oil and gas resources too
India has awoken to the imperative. Forecasts for soaring energy demand in the coming decades implies a costly and inevitable surge in imports—unless the country's maturing oil and gasfields can be rejuvenated or new projects brought into production. While oil consumption has risen steeply in the past decade, production has flatlined. Last year, according to BP's statistics, output was just under 0.9m barrels a day, less than five years ago. Consumption was 4.5m b/d. No one expects India to reach anything like self-sufficiency in its oil sector. But a domestic boost would help tame the pace at which the deficit widens. Resources remain significant, but have also been declining in recent year
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
