India is making a concerted effort to lower its reliance on imported crudes with the government focused on boosting domestic production, promoting renewables and improving the refining process, at a time of increasing demand. Highlighting the growing importance of energy security, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told delegates as much at an energy conference in early December. “We need to increase our domestic oil and gas production and reduce import dependence. I have set a target to reduce import dependence by 10% by [fiscal] 2022,” Modi told the Petrotech conference in New Delhi, referring to crude oil. “This will have to be achieved during a period of increasing oil consumption.” India is witnessing double-digit growth in oil product demand on the back of sustained GDP growth and rising disposable incomes. The country imported 197.5 million mt (4.33 million b/d) of crude oil in the first 11 months of 2016, […]