AGARTALA: India imports 88 per cent of its crude oil, with 45 per cent historically sourced from the Middle East. With the International Energy Agency describing the disruption triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, the domestic hydrocarbon reserves of Northeast India have taken on a strategic significance that government data has long documented but policy attention has rarely matched.
The Energy Statistics India 2026 report, published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on March 27 this year places the region’s multi-fuel energy reserves in full view at a moment when their value could not be more apparent.
Assam leads, Tripura punches above its weight
Assam alone holds 144.73 million tonnes of estimated crude oil reserves as of 1 April 2025, the highest of any individual onshore state in India at 21.53 per cent of the national total of 672.07 million tonnes. Its natural gas reserves stand at 163.33 billion cubic metres, which is 15.22 per cent of India’s national total of 1,073.01 billion cubic metres.
Tripura, far smaller in area, holds 27.73 billion cubic metres of natural gas, amounting to 2.58 per cent of the national total, a figure that places it above Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat in gas reserve rankings. Together, the 2 states account for more than 17 per cent of India’s total estimated natural gas reserves, a combined holding no other pair of states in any single region can match for onshore gas.
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Arunachal Pradesh adds 2.97 million tonnes of crude oil and 7.10 billion cubic metres of natural gas to the region’s reserve base, up marginally from 2.88 million tonnes of oil recorded in 2024. Nagaland holds 2.38 million tonnes of crude oil, though its gas reserves are negligible at 0.09 billion cubic metres. Tripura’s crude oil holdings are a near-absent 0.07 million tonnes, underscoring that its energy identity rests entirely on gas.
However, the year-on-year reserve trajectory carries a note of concern. Assam’s crude oil reserves declined from 145.41 million tonnes in 2024 to 144.73 million tonnes in 2025, and its natural gas fell from 164.51 billion cubic metres to 163.33 billion cubic metres. Tripura’s gas reserves dropped from 28.18 billion cubic metres to 27.73 billion cubic metres over the same period. These are modest declines, but they indicate production continuing to draw down reserves at a pace that new discoveries have not yet offset.
Coal, refineries, and the limits of existing infrastructure
Beyond hydrocarbons, 5 of the 8 northeastern states hold coal deposits. Meghalaya leads with 583 million tonnes, followed by Assam at 525 million tonnes and Nagaland at 510 million tonnes, the latter rising from 478 million tonnes in 2024 following an upward revision in inferred reserves.
Arunachal Pradesh holds 91 million tonnes and Sikkim holds 101 million tonnes. Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura do not figure in national coal reserve estimates. India’s total coal reserves stand at 400,715 million tonnes as of 1 April 2025.
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On the processing side, Assam hosts 4 refineries that are central to the region’s fuel supply chain, and all 4 are running at or beyond capacity. The Indian Oil Corporation’s Guwahati refinery operated at 98.18 per cent capacity utilisation in 2024-25, the Digboi refinery at 119.09 per cent, the Bongaigaon refinery at 102.67 per cent, and Numaligarh Refinery Limited at 102.19 per cent.
Consistently high utilisation across all 4 facilities leaves the region’s refining infrastructure with little headroom to absorb any additional supply pressure.
A region sitting on energy wealth it has barely touched
The renewable energy picture presents the region’s deepest paradox. Northeast India holds an estimated renewable energy potential of 1,13,342 MW. Arunachal Pradesh alone accounts for 53,191 MW of that, of which 50,394 MW comes from large hydropower, one of the highest such figures in the country. Assam holds 20,799 MW, Meghalaya 17,054 MW, Tripura 9,187 MW, and Sikkim 6,577 MW.
Against this potential, the installed renewable capacity across all 8 states totals under 700 MW. Assam leads with 233 MW after growing at 20.99 per cent in 2024-25, while Nagaland recorded zero growth, remaining at 36 MW. The combined installed electricity generation capacity of the entire Northeast stands at 5.11 GW, just 1 per cent of India’s national total of 475.21 GW.
The picture the Energy Statistics India 2026 report ultimately presents is of a region that is energy-rich in reserves but energy-poor in infrastructure. Assam and Tripura provide India with a domestic hydrocarbon buffer at precisely the moment when global supply chains are under their most severe strain in recorded history.
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Yet the Northeast collectively generates barely 1 per cent of India’s electricity, has left the overwhelming bulk of its renewable potential untouched, and contains states like Manipur and Mizoram that hold no hydrocarbon or coal reserves and have negligible grid-connected power capacity.
According to analysts cited by Wood Mackenzie, a scenario in which Gulf exports remain disrupted beyond 4 to 5 months could see LNG prices stay elevated well into 2027. For India, that timeline makes the domestic reserves of Assam and Tripura not merely a statistical footnote in an annual report, but a front-line energy security asset.
The Energy Statistics India 2026 report is published annually by MoSPI and draws on data from the Ministry of Coal, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and the Central Electricity Authority.