An Energy Summary of India

India is both a major energy producer and consumer. India currently ranks as the world’s eleventh greatest energy producer, accounting for about 2.4% of the world’s total annual energy production, and as the world’s sixth greatest energy consumer, accounting for about 3.3% of the world’s total annual energy consumption. Despite its large annual energy production, India is a net energy importer, mostly due to the large imbalance between oil production and consumption. An historical summary of India's Total Primary Energy Production (TPEP) and Consumption (TPEC) is shown in Table 1.

India's proved oil reserves are currently estimated (as of January 2005) at about 5 billion barrels, or about 4.5% of the world total. Most of these reserves lie offshore near Mumbai and onshore in Assam state. However, exploration is still happening, and India's off-shore and on-shore basins may contain as much as 11 billion barrels. India presently ranks as the 25th greatest producer of crude oil, accounting for about 1% of the world’s annual crude oil production. About 30% of India's energy needs are met by oil, and more than 60% of that oil is imported. A strong growth in oil demand has resulted in India’s annual petroleum consumption increasing by more than 75% from what it was a decade ago, and petroleum consumption is projected to climb to about 3 million barrels per day by 2010. India is currently the world's sixth greatest oil consumer, accounting for about 2.9% of world's total annual petroleum consumption. An historical summary of petroleum production and consumption in India is shown in Table 2.

India's natural gas reserves are currently estimated (as of January 2005) at about 29-32 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or about 0.5% of the world total. Most of these reserves lie offshore northwest of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea and onshore in Gujarat state. India does not yet rank in the top 20 of the world's greatest natural gas consumers, but that will soon change. Natural gas has experienced the fastest rate of increase of any fuel in India's primary energy supply; demand is growing at about 4.8% per year and is forecast to rise to 1.2 tcf per year by 2010 and 1.6 tcf per year by 2015. An historical summary of natural gas production and consumption in India is shown in Table 3.

India's has huge proven coal reserves, estimated (as of January 2005) at more than 90 billion tons, or about 10% of the world's total. Most of these reserves are relatively high ash bituminous coal and are located in Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh states. At the current level of production and consumption, India's coal reserves would last more than two hundred years. India is currently the third-largest coal-producing country in the world (behind China and the United States), and accounts for about 8.5% of the world's annual coal production. India is also currently the third-largest coal consuming country (behind the China and the United States), and accounts for nearly 9% of the world's total annual coal consumption. More than half of India’s energy needs are met by coal, and about 70% of India's electricity generation is now fueled by coal. The annual demand for coal has been steadily increasing over the past decade, and is now nearly 50% greater than it was a decade ago. Even though India is able to satisfy most of its country's coal demand through domestic production, less than 5% of its reserves is coking coal used by the steel industry. As a result, India's steel industry imports coking coal, mainly from Australia and New Zealand, to meet about 25% of its annual needs. An historical summary of coal production and consumption in India is shown in Table 4.

India is presently the sixth-greatest electricity generating country and accounts for about 4% of the world's total annual electricity generation. India is also currently ranked sixth in annual electricity consumption, accounting for about 3.5% of the world's total annual electricity consumption. Overall, India's need for power is growing at a prodigious rate; annual electricity generation and consumption in India have increased by about 64% in the past decade, and its projected rate of increase (estimated at as much as 8-10% annually, through the year 2020) for electricity consumption is one of the highest in the world. An historical summary of electricity generation and consumption in India is shown in Table 5.

India is currently ranked fifth in the world in terms of total installed electricity generating capacity, and accounts for about 3.5% of the world total. Hydroelectric capacity represents about one-fourth of India’s total installed capacity, and overall, India is currently ranked sixth-largest in the world in that category (accounting for about 3.7% of the world’s installed hydroelectric generating capacity). There is a large amount of hydroelectric capacity in construction and planning stages, and in particular, hydropower development in the Brahmaputra river basin in eastern India is expected to result in six large power plants, which will add nearly 30,000 megawatts (MWe) of generating capacity. The largest of these will be the 11,000 MWe Dihang Upper project, which, when completed in about 2012, would become the world's third-largest power plant. An historical summary of installed electricity generating capacity in India is shown in Table 6.

Lowering energy intensity of GDP growth through higher energy efficiency is key to meeting India’s energy challenge and ensuring its energy security. India’s energy intensity vis-à-vis GDP growth has been falling and is about half what is used to be in early 70s. Energy consumption, per unit of GDP in purchasing power parity terms is only 0.19 kilogram oil equivalent per dollar as compared to 0.21 of the world average. But there is a still room for improvement and can be brought down further significantly with current commercially available technologies.

Despite of a reasonable growth in GDP and dependence on fossil fuels to meet the Energy needs of India, , carbon dioxide emission per capita in India is still low, i.e., around 1 tonne against the world average of about 4 tonnes and of about 19 tonnes in case of some developed countries (According to IEA).

An historical summary of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use in India is shown in Table 7.