Speaking at a seminar 'Energy Security Conference 2012' organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Ministry of External Affairs here on Thursday, he said : 'We have made progress in linking India's electricity grid, the second largest in the world with Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh'.

Defending the plan and work of the External Affairs Ministry, Khurshid said : 'In addition, we plan to put in place additional gas pipeline network of 15,000 km and are in the process of increasing our LNG capacity to 45 million metric tonnes per annum from the current 13.5 mmtpa and have put in place a roadmap for the ambitions Turkmenistan TAPI Gas Pipeline to be commissioned by 2017,'

On last Tuesday the former Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyer, who is also from the same Congress party, had in a seminar squarely blamed the foreign policy of the government for “failing to achieve success in both the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.” He said the foreign policy affected India’s energy policy.

Aiyer mooted the idea of Asian Gas Network. He also mooted the idea of Asian Oil and Gas Union, based on the model of European network which resulted in the formation of European Union.

Turning the stance, Khurshid said that not only external relations that matters but also internal exploration. Some people who had set up 'political retail shops' were okay with India importing gas at high prices but not for exploring energy within the country.

In a veiled attack on Arvind Kejriwal and without naming him, the Minister said 'This is converted into a political boxing match We are happy to import gas at $14 per unit but not willing to give $7 per unit to someone who wants to explore within the country This is a major problem,' he said.

In October, Kejriwal had alleged that Reliance Industries was blackmailing the government to hike the price for supplying gas from the Krishna Godavari basin allotted to it. He alleged that Reliance, which was awarded the contract in 2000 by the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, had agreed to supply gas to the National Thermal Power Corp for the next 17 years at $2.5 per unit.

He also said that the company revised the rate and was now demanding $14.25 per unit. He had demanded scrapping of the deal with the company.

'At the domestic level, we need to optimally exploit and utilise our energy resources; leverage on opportunities provided by coal bed methane and shale gas and develop technologies to scale up renewable energy. In addition in the nuclear field there needs to be some clarity in public perception,' Khurshid said.

Kejriwal had also alleged financial impropriety by Khurshid and his wife in the running of a NGO for disabled people, which the minister has denied.

Khurshid noted that country’s energy needs growing at a 'terrifying pace',

'Demand for energy is growing at a terrifying pace in India and yet not fast enough if we take into account the per capita consumption in India. Sources of energy are depleting at a fast pace and we are already importing 80% of our oil and 25% of our gas requirements,' he said.

'Going forward, if we continue to grow at 8-9% import dependence is likely to increase and India would be importing 35-57% of coal, 90-94% of oil and 20-57% of gas by 2031-32,' Khurshid said.

He said that at the domestic level, we need to optimally exploit and utilize our energy resources; leverage on opportunities provided by coal bed methane and shale gas and develop technologies to scale up renewable energy. In addition, in the nuclear field there needs to be clarity in public perception, he said.

Khurshid emphasised on the strategic and economic importance of energy security, the opportunities in this area and the strategies and structured approaches that have been adopted by the government.

He said there was a need for better integration for strategising with international markets and enhancing relations with energy exporting countries.

The Secretary Economic Relations in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Sudhir Vyas, said that the Ministry has been working with the line ministries, public and private sector to enable energy asset acquisition. He further added that there was a need to explore how synergies and tradeoffs can be developed; cooperation enhanced and opportunities leveraged to ensure the nation’s energy security.