While giving a complete overview of the India’s energy status he highlighted that the share of crude oil in the country’s energy matrix would increase to almost 90 pc by 2025.

“The share of civilian nuclear energy would only increase from 3 pc to 6 pc in meeting the demand, while the high ash content in domestic coal reserves often make it unfeasible to produce power”, commented Mani Shankar Aiyer. He highlighted an example where Tamil Nadu had found it cheaper to import coal from Australia rather than transport coal from Indian reserves to produce electricity.

Taking a dig at the speculating forces that artificially increase the prices of global crude oil, he felt that there was urgent need of a truly free market. He said, “Even though there have been instances of some labour trouble in Nigeria, there has been no reduction in the oil production by Nigeria. Yet there are some elements who manage to raise prices of global crude oil to even $70 per barrel. Sometimes even a threat of a terrorist attack on Saudi Arabia has the same effect.”