India’s push over several years to diversify energy supplies, expand refining capacity and strengthen infrastructure and storage helped shield domestic consumers from shortages despite major disruptions to global energy flows, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
Speaking at the curtain-raiser for India Energy Week (IEW) 2027 in Kolkata, Puri said recent global disruptions had underscored the need to build resilience into the energy system well before a crisis erupts. Despite pressure on international energy flows, the disruptions did not translate into shortages for Indian households, he said.
“The lesson is simple: energy resilience is not built when a crisis arrives; it is built before the crisis arrives,” Puri said, pointing to measures including diversified supplies, stronger infrastructure and expansion of piped natural gas.
The minister said India was increasingly moving from being merely a large energy consumer to playing a larger role in shaping the global energy conversation. “We are demonstrating that growth, energy security and decarbonisation can advance together,” he said.
Against this backdrop, IEW 2027 will focus on practical solutions as energy security, affordability, technology, investment and sustainability become increasingly interconnected. Its exhibition and conference programmes will cover oil and gas, LNG, refining and petrochemicals, hydrogen, biofuels, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.
The minister said securing energy now goes beyond ensuring physical supplies and encompasses reliability, affordability, diversified sources, stronger domestic production and resilience across the energy system. Innovation, he said, would require taking new technologies, business models and financing solutions from demonstration stages to commercially viable and scalable deployment.
In a statement, the ministry said that IEW 2027 will focus on the technologies, innovations and partnerships required to ensure energy security, affordability and sustainability for the globe, especially countries in the global South.
“With energy security, affordability, technology, investment and sustainability increasingly interconnected, IEW 2027 promises to catalyse global efforts to find practical solutions to the challenges shaping the sector,” it said.
IEW 2027 will be held at the New Town Convention Centre, Kolkata, from January 28-31, marking the event’s first edition in eastern India. The fifth edition, themed “Unlocking Innovation. Securing Energy. Shaping Tomorrow.”, is expected to draw more than 75,000 energy professionals and 700 international exhibitors.
Around 17,000 square metres of exhibition space has already been booked, Puri said, with about five months still to go before the event.
India Energy Week has expanded sharply since its Bengaluru debut in 2023. The 2026 Goa edition drew over 75,000 energy professionals, more than 700 exhibiting companies, participants from over 120 countries and 6,500 conference delegates.
Puri said the choices made now on investment, partnerships, technology, talent and policy would shape energy systems over the next 10-15 years.
(Saurav Anand is in Kolkata on the invitation of the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas)