Discuss the role of global conclaves such as India Energy Week in advancing India's energy diplomacy with the Global South.

India imports 85% of its crude oil requirement [2], so energy diplomacy is a strategic necessity. India Energy Week (IEW) is held under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It has become the main platform for this diplomacy, and its Kolkata edition (January 2027) explicitly targets energy security and affordability for the Global South [1].

Role in advancing energy diplomacy

• Convening power: IEW 2026 drew participants from 120+ countries and 17 Ministers/Deputy Ministers, including from Tanzania, Myanmar, Brunei and Oman [1].
• Multilateral bridges: The International Energy Forum, BIMSTEC and the Eurasian Economic Union took part [1]. This let India engage both producers and fellow importers in one forum.
• Supply diversification: At IEW 2025, BPCL signed a contract to import up to 6 million barrels of crude from Petrobras, Brazil. Brazil is a Global South partner outside the Middle East [3].
• India as supplier: IOCL signed its first LNG export deal, with Nepal, with supplies routed through Odisha's Dhamra Terminal [3]. The Kolkata venue sits next to BIMSTEC markets.
• Transition showcase: IEW displays hydrogen and biofuels [1], which gives other developing economies models they can copy.

Limitations

• Fossil-heavy outcomes: The biggest IEW 2025 deal was a USD 7 billion, 14-year LNG contract with ADNOC (UAE). The clean-energy outcomes were only pilots and MoUs [3].
• MoUs are not investment: Most agreements are non-binding, and no one publicly tracks how many become projects.
• Structural gaps: India still depends on the volatile Middle East and pays the Asian premium on crude [4]. Funding for Strategic Oil Reserves was cut 81% in Budget 2026-27 [2].

Way forward

• Build an importers' coalition at IEW to reform crude pricing and remove the Asian premium, as the Standing Committee recommended [4].
• Expand rupee settlement of energy trade with partner countries [4].
• Publish a yearly tracker showing how many IEW MoUs become projects.

IEW has turned India's position as a large importer into convening power, giving it a voice with producers and with developing importers alike. To lead the Global South credibly, India must turn showcase diplomacy into binding coalitions on pricing, payments and clean technology. That would advance SDG 7's goal of affordable and clean energy for all.