India, Brazil reaffirm commitment to boost energy sector collaborations

New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) India and Brazil have reinforced their commitment to strengthen existing collaboration in the energy sector, including Indian upstream investment, mutually beneficial relationship in bilateral trade and cooperation in sustainable fuels, particularly biofuels, it was announced on Saturday.

During his three-day visit to Brazil from September 19-21, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, met Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira de Oliveira, saying that the two sides are well-positioned to collaborate on production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs), by leveraging their existing ethanol and biodiesel production infrastructure, growing aviation market and vast feedstock potential, including their agricultural resources.

Minister Puri was accompanied by Indian oil and gas companies, representing both the upstream and downstream sector.

In a post on X, the minister said they discussed ways to enhance collaboration in areas where Brazil is a global leader, such as ethanol blending, deepwater offshore exploration and renewable diesel, to advance India’s energy security imperatives.

“We also discussed ways to provide our expertise in building affordable clean cooking solutions and building large solar energy capacity and energy storage solutions to Brazil. Brazil’s expertise in ethanol blending and renewable diesel presents valuable opportunities to support India’s goals of reducing carbon emissions and strengthening energy security,” the minister posted.

In the oil and gas sector, both nations recognised the trust reposed by Indian companies in the sector which has resulted in Brazil being one of the largest destinations for investments by Indian oil and gas companies in the world.

As founding members of the Global Biofuels Alliance, both sides reiterated the crucial role the Alliance will play in positioning biofuels as a key component of the global energy transition, contributing not only to environmental sustainability but also to socioeconomic growth, according to a ministry statement.

The Indian side expressed confidence that Brazil’s leadership would further the G20’s agenda of inclusive and sustainable development, building on the momentum generated by India's presidency in 2023.Both nations discussed collaboration in the domain of deep and ultra0deep explorations in the Indian offshore Acreages. The two sides also initiated a discussion on cooperation in the area of critical minerals and their value chains.

In the context of SAF, the ministers noted that currently SAF remains the major mature and viable pathway to decarbonise the aviation sector. At the same time, SAF only accounts for 0.3 per cent of the current fuel use for aviation.“The sides reaffirmed that the goal of net zero in the aviation sector would require joint and collaborative action between the two countries to resolve some of the major hurdles to SAF production, namely, feedstock-related challenges, high cost of SAF compared to other technologies, infrastructure for large-scale production and efficient waste management systems, low maturity of production pathways, etc,” the ministry noted.