NEW DELHI, India (NNN-Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday that the country is facing "formidable" challenges in the energy sector particularly due to the spiralling global oil prices.
"The challenges we face on the energy front are formidable. We needs adequate supplies of energy at affordable prices. Domestic sources of crude oil and gas are inadequate to meet the growing demands of our rapidly expanding economy," the Prime Minister said after inaugurating a 4 billion U.S. dollars refinery in the northern state of Punjab.
He added: "With imports accounting for about 80 percent of our crude supplies, the spiralling prices of crude in the international market have put a severe strain on our import bill. We also need to rationalize prices and at the same time ensure that the poor and needy are shielded from the effects of such a rationalization."
India had in 2010 deregulated petrol prices but state-owned oil companies haven't been able to raise oil prices because of political pressure.
Claiming that the country's refinery sector has grown leaps and bounds, Singh said India has emerged as a refining hub with capacity increasing from 62 million tonne per annum in 1998 to 213 million tonne currently.
"We have sufficient refining capacity to enable us to export petroleum products," the Prime Minister boasted. -- NNN-XINHUA
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