New Delhi, Mar 05: Vedanta Limited Chairman, Mr. Anil Agarwal, has called on India to urgently prioritise domestic energy and natural resource production in the wake of escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, including potential disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz.
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Mr. Agarwal highlighted India’s heavy reliance on imports, noting that 90% of oil, 66% of LPG, and 50% of LNG are imported, contributing to a $176 billion annual import bill. He emphasized that fluctuations in global prices directly impact the current account deficit, the rupee, inflation, and ultimately, the everyday citizen. Together, oil, gas, and gold constitute nearly 30% of India’s total imports.
“Energy and natural resources must be declared a national priority,” Mr. Agarwal said. “Processes need urgent simplification, and domestic production must be ramped up fast. In today’s unsettled geopolitics, self-reliance is no longer aspirational — it is an immediate economic and strategic necessity.”
Vedanta, through its subsidiary Cairn Oil & Gas, is India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company. With interests in 44 blocks across 47,000 square kilometres, Cairn has 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (2P + 2C reserves) and producing assets in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Assam. The company is executing some of India’s largest exploration projects, including conventional and unconventional initiatives such as Tight Oil & Gas, Deep & Shallow Water projects, ASP Injection, Deep Gas, and Satellite Field Monetisation, with a vision to contribute 50% of India’s domestic production.
Cairn is also committed to achieving Net Zero by 2030, prioritizing environmental resilience and social impact. It became the first Indian company to achieve the ‘Gold Standard Pathway’ recognition under the United Nations Environment Programme’s OGMP 2.0 framework.