Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said Africa is playing an important role in meeting the energy demand in the coming years. Speaking during the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference in New Delhi, Mr Pradhan said India and Africa must work together in energy sector to achieve the inclusive growth.<br/><br/>He said, for sustaining India's economy growth, the government is expecting more energy demand in the near future.He said India will contribute about 25 percent of the growth in global energy demand. Mr Pradhan said, India has offered 10 billion dollars concession credit to African countries for next five years for exploration in oil and gas to meet energy challenges. <br/><br/>The Minister asserted that the public and private sector both in India and Africa should identify the viable projects which can be finance through this line of credit. The Minister said the present Indian government is keen to move towards a geographically diversified energy basket, and this has resulted in India's greater focus on Africa as a vital region for sourcing petroleum products in coming years. <br/><br/>expressed the hope that India, apart from being an attractive market for crude oil and gas, would be an able partner for African nations across the industry value chain. He said over the past two decades, the African hydrocarbon sector has been expanding rapidly as also the interests of Indian oil companies in the continent. <br/><br/>He Informed that India imported 32 Million Metric Tonnes of crude in 2014 from Africa, including 3 Million Metric Tonnes from North Africa and 29 Million Metric Tonnes from West Africa.