STEPS TAKEN TO REDUCE CRUDE OIL IMPORT

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Context

The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas informed about the various steps taken by the Government to reduce Crude Oil Import

Steps taken

Various steps have been taken to reduce import of Crude Oil. These include –

Demand substitution by promoting usage of natural gas as fuel/feedstock across the country towards increasing the share of natural gas in economy.
Moving towards gas based economy, promotion of renewable.
Alternate fuels like ethanol, second generation ethanol, compressed bio gas and biodiesel, refinery process improvements.
Promoting energy efficiency and conservation.
Efforts for increasing production of oil and natural gas through various policies under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime, Discovered Small Field Policy, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, etc.
Government has also provided functional freedom to National Oil Companies and for wider private sector participation by streamlining approval processes including electronic single window mechanism.
To give a major thrust to Ethanol Blending Programme, Government of India through Oil Marketing Companies (omcs) are establishing 2G Ethanol plants across the country.
For promoting the use of Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) as automotive fuel, Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative has been launched under which oil Marketing Companies are inviting Expression of Interest (eoi) from potential entrepreneurs to produce CBG.

India’s crude oil imports

India imports 85% of its oil from more than 40 countries.
The bulk of supplies come from the Middle East and the US. (India imports only 2% of its supplies from Russia.)
Imports include oil which it converts to petroleum products after refining.
India exports petroleum products – accounting for more than 13% of its total exports – to more than 100 countries.