New Delhi: Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan Monday said that India would invest 100 billion dollars by 2024 in refining, pipelines and gas terminal in the country.

“Our focus is to attract global investments into the oil and gas sector, as India would invest 100 billion dollars by 2024 in refining, pipelines and gas terminals. There is no better place to invest if you are in the business of energy. Political stability, predictable policies and a huge diverse market make India an attractive investment destination for global investors.We have recently liberalized the entry norms for fuel retailing which has paved way for entry of new players in the fuel retailing space and enhancing competition,” Pradhan said after inaugurating the India Pavilion at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

The Indian petroleum minister said India has a huge appetite for energy, and will be driver of global energy demand in coming decades. In fact, oil and gas would continue to play a critical role in meeting the energy requirement of India in coming two decades even as we adapt renewable energy.

Participating the ADIPEC inaugural global discussion, Pradhan said “We will be working on investing in gas based infrastructure like increase in CGD and PNG network and gas based industries.” He said that global energy transition is driven by Asia becoming the centre of energy consumption, greater availability of LNG, greater promise of energy independence through renewables including solar and wind energy, emergence of US a leading hydrocarbons exporter and the urgency to meet COP 21 Paris climate commitments.

The India Pavilion has been set up by 9 Indian oil and gas companies from the upstream, midstream, downstream and engineering segments, along with Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).