India Will Begin Discussions To Join International Energy Agency
India will begin talks to become a full member of the International Energy Agency, the watchdog of consuming nations, to tackle energy and climate concerns.
(Bloomberg) -- India will begin talks to become a full member of the International Energy Agency, the watchdog of consuming nations, to tackle energy and climate concerns.
The process recognizes the “strategic importance” of the country, an associate member of the IEA since 2017, the Paris-based agency said Wednesday after a ministerial meeting. India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer.
“India becoming an IEA member would mark a huge, consequential change in international energy governance,” a joint statement read. “In the next three decades, India is poised to see the largest energy demand growth of any country.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi would bring “talent, technology and innovation” to the organization, according to the statement.
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said last week that the nation would be the leading driver of oil consumption growth during the rest of this decade, expanding by 1.2 million barrels a day to reach 6.6 million barrels a day.
The economy in the world’s most populous country has been expanding at a rapid clip, stoking demand for commodities from oil to iron ore. That’s set in motion a building blitz at India’s refineries, boosting the industry at a time when it’s in decline elsewhere.
Singapore Center
In a further sign of the IEA’s shifting focus toward Asia, it also announced plans to open a center in Singapore — the first of its kind outside Paris — to serve the region.
The IEA currently has 31 full members, drawn from the Organization for Cooperation and Development, including the US, Germany and Japan. Members are required to hold oil stockpiles equivalent to 90 days of imports, to be deployed in case of emergency.
The agency said separately that global leaders attending its two-day ministerial meeting “produced a strong commitment to safeguard energy security, while speeding up clean-energy transitions to keep the goal of limiting global warning to 1.5C within reach.”
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