India’s oil and gas sector is moving from a crisis-response model to a more resilient energy security framework, with natural gas, compressed biogas, green hydrogen and clean cooking technologies emerging as critical levers in reducing import dependence, senior public sector energy executives said on Friday.
Speaking at the ET Government National PSU Summit 2026 against the backdrop of geopolitical volatility and supply risks around key trade routes, these leaders from Indraprastha Gas Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd underlined that India’s energy transition cannot be seen only as a decarbonisation journey, but also as a strategic effort to secure affordable and diversified fuel supplies for households, mobility and industry.
Mohit Bhatia, Director (Commercial), Indraprastha Gas Ltd, said the recent geopolitical tensions had reinforced the need for India to strengthen domestic alternatives while diversifying external supply sources.
Explaining the scale of the challenge, Bhatia said India’s energy requirement is close to 900-1,000 million tonnes of oil equivalent, with coal, oil and gas forming the core of the mix. In crude oil, he said, India continues to depend heavily on imports, while domestic production accounts for a smaller share. This dependence, he noted, becomes particularly significant when maritime routes such as the Strait of Hormuz come under stress.
“Around 85 to 90 per cent of crude oil is dependent on imports, and only 10 to 15 per cent is produced within the country,” Bhatia said, adding that India had managed the disruption through diversified sourcing and stronger bilateral engagement. His comment reflected a broader industry concern: India’s energy security strategy can no longer rest on single-region sourcing or conventional fuel supply chains.
The pressure was not limited to crude oil. Bhatia said LPG also faced supply concerns, given India’s import dependence and exposure to West Asian supply routes. However, he said Indian oil marketing companies responded by stepping up domestic LPG production and adjusting refinery output to protect household supply.
“The oil marketing companies of the country stood up in this crisis very fantastically,” he said. “The refineries had to step up LPG production by cutting some other fuels.” The response, he indicated, showed how public sector companies remain central to cushioning consumers from international shocks.
Natural gas, Bhatia argued, offers India a more strategic transition pathway because nearly half of the country’s gas demand is met domestically. He said the government’s prioritisation of domestic natural gas allocation for city gas distribution had helped maintain CNG and domestic PNG supply, even when imported LNG prices rose sharply.
This, he said, is why gas is increasingly being viewed not only as a cleaner fuel but also as a security asset. “Natural gas seems to be a very strategic fit in terms of transition going forward from conventional fuels,” Bhatia said. He added that urban clusters, high-rise buildings and metro cities could see stronger movement from LPG to piped natural gas in the coming years.
The discussion also turned to innovation as a means of reducing structural fuel dependence. Umish Srivastva, Executive Director In-charge (R&D), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, said India’s energy transition would be shaped by the ability to substitute conventional fuels in mobility, industry and households.
“A lot of new opportunities in terms of innovations are coming up,” Srivastva said, pointing to green hydrogen as one of the fuels being pushed for mobility and industrial decarbonisation. He said hydrogen’s cost curve could improve as manufacturing ecosystems develop in India, particularly for critical components.
Compressed biogas, or CBG, was identified as another major opportunity. Srivastva said organic waste could be converted into gas and blended with CNG or used through gas networks, making it a direct substitute for imported natural gas in certain applications.
According to him, India already has around 100-125 CBG plants in operation, with another 200-300 expected to come on stream over the next two years. For the sector, this signals a shift from treating waste as an urban and agricultural burden to using it as a decentralised energy resource.
However, Srivastava cautioned that the challenge in biogas is not primarily technological. “With respect to biogas, it is the aggregation, segregation and aggregation of waste that is the biggest issue,” he said. Once waste is aggregated, he added, it ceases to be waste and becomes a usable energy input.
This has direct implications for municipalities, agriculture supply chains, and private investors entering the CBG ecosystem.
Indian Oil’s clean cooking innovation was also cited as part of the broader transition. Srivastva referred to the company’s solar cooktop, Surya Nutan, which uses electricity from solar photovoltaic panels to convert it into heat and store it for cooking. He said such technologies could help move households beyond biomass-based cooking, which remains prevalent in parts of India.
The panel’s broader message was that India’s oil and gas transition will not be a linear shift away from fossil fuels. Instead, it will involve using natural gas as a bridge fuel, strengthening domestic production and refining flexibility, expanding CBG and hydrogen production, and building infrastructure to accommodate cleaner fuels as they mature.
For public sector enterprises, the strategic role is therefore expanding beyond supply assurance. They are being called upon to manage geopolitical risk, support the adoption of cleaner fuels, invest in R&D, and build the infrastructure needed for India’s long-term energy security.
