"China has committed to move from carbon peak to carbon neutrality in a much shorter time span than what might take many developed countries, and that requires extraordinarily hard efforts from China,"

South Korea imported 1.448 million mt, or 10.61 million barrels, of US crude in March, up 22.1% from February and the highest monthly shipment since 14.83 million barrels imported in April 2020, latest data released by the Korea Customs Service showed.

India's crude imports fell 10.3% year on year to 201.5 million mt in 2020, or 4 million b/d, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed, as oil products demand in 2020 posted negative growth for the first time in nearly two decades.

The Sinopec award comes on the heels of an agreement between Iraq and Total to jointly work on developing four associated gas and solar power projects.

The RPS system was introduced in 2012 with an initial mandatory quota of 2%, which has been gradually raised to 9% in 2021. The policy, implemented through a system of certificate, should be effective from October 2021.

Gas imports are forecast to increase by 12.5% to 159 bcm in 2021, including 104 bcm of LNG and 55 bcm of piped gas.

The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has initiated a tender for 1,200 MW of wind-solar projects, under the tranche IV of the interstate transmission-connected (ISTS) programme.

China's oil product exports are expected to rise by 31.7% year on year to around 54.7 million mt in 2021,

Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will boost the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25% by 2030, part of his pledge to bring the country's carbon emissions to a peak before 2030.

The US was working with partners in India to launch a US-India Hydrogen Task Force under the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership initiative.

India would not only be pushing hydrogen in the transport sector, but would also expand its use to a range of sectors such as chemicals, iron and steel, heating and power.

China needs to speed up its nuclear development to achieve its pledge to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a peak before 2030 and become “carbon neutral” by 2060.

China said in its 2021-2025 five-year plan published in March that it would continue to promote the “clean and efficient use of coal”.

The agreement aims to advance the global energy transformation towards a net zero energy future particularly in developing countries, in the context of achieving the Paris Agreement objectives and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 2.44% at 14,474.10 by 0440 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex was 2.42% lower at 48,374.94. The two indexes have now retreated 6%-8% from their mid-February record highs.