Govt sets up GoM on energy

Apart from Mukherjee,the GoM would consist of Foreign Minister S M Krishna,Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde,Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah,Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon would be special invitees.

India has been hunting for energy resources all over the world to meet the rapidly rising demands of its economy,one of the fastest growing in the world. The foreign arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is actively involved in looking for and acquiring new oilfields in Asia and Africa. The government has also been signing civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with a number of countries in a bid to increase nuclear power generation in the country.

Sources said the GoM would look at opportunities of overseas acquisition of energy resources,bilateral and multilateral cooperation on energy,especially with neighbouring countries,and options for increasing the proportion of clean and renewable energy in the overall energy mix.

The first meeting of the GoM is likely to be convened sometime next week,the sources said.