India Energy Week 2026 opened on Tuesday (27 January) with a strong call for sustained global investment, partnerships and coordinated action to support an orderly energy transition, as senior leaders highlighted concerns over underinvestment amid rising demand.
The flagship global energy event commenced with keynote addresses by Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, positioning India as a central player in shaping the future global energy landscape.
Addressing the inaugural session, Puri said the global energy transition must be backed by sustained investment to ensure energy security, affordability and sustainability. He emphasised that the transition should be viewed as “energy addition” rather than replacement, calling for parallel investments across oil, gas, biofuels, green hydrogen, LNG and clean cooking fuels.
Highlighting India’s progress under ongoing energy sector reforms, the minister pointed to the opening of large sedimentary basins for exploration, successive Open Acreage Licensing Policy and Discovered Small Fields bidding rounds, and continued policy measures aimed at attracting global investors. He also underlined India’s expansion of LPG coverage and clean cooking access as part of its inclusive energy strategy.
Speaking at the event, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber noted that global energy demand is entering a phase of large-scale transformation driven by emerging markets, digitalisation and integrated energy systems, with India expected to be a decisive driver of future demand. He warned that underinvestment posed the greatest risk to global energy security and called for balanced investment across all energy sources.
Al Jaber also highlighted the depth of the UAE-India energy partnership, noting ADNOC’s role as a reliable supplier of crude oil, LNG and LPG to India, and reiterated the UAE’s commitment to long-term, trust-based energy cooperation.
Welcoming delegates, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said India Energy Week has evolved into a global platform that translates ideas into action. He outlined Goa’s long-term roadmap to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050 and stressed the need to balance the green economy with the blue economy through responsible use of ocean resources.
Across the inaugural addresses, the event underscored India’s positioning as a responsible global energy leader, with emphasis on international cooperation, innovation and investment mobilisation as key enablers of the global energy transition.
