Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday that India is taking global leadership role in Biofuels supply chain with the successful launch of Global Biofuels Alliance.
Elaborating on the growth-energy correlation in Indian context, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Wednesday that the growth-energy correlation is evident in India as it is now the world’s third largest energy consumer, third largest consumer of oil, the third largest LPG consumer, the fourth largest LNG importer, fourth largest refiner and the fourth largest automobile market in the world.
Puri talked about the steps taken by Government to augment India’s Exploration and Production (E&P) sector while interacting with the media. He said that the “No Go” areas in EEZ have been reduced by almost 99 per cent and 10 Lakh sq km area is now free in EEZ for E&P Activity.
The minister stressed that ethanol blending during ESY 2022-23 has saved approximately 509 crore litres of petrol resulting in savings of more than Rs. 24,300 crore of foreign exchange and expeditious payment of about Rs.19,300 crore to farmers including net CO2 reduction of 108 lakh metric tonnes.
The number of retail outlets retailing E20 is now more than 9300 and will cover the entire country by 2025, said the Petroleum Minister.
E20 (20 per cent ethanol blended) petrol is a mixture of 20 per cent anhydrous ethanol with 80 per cent motor gasoline fuel volume by volume. Government is promoting biofuels with the broader objectives of reducing import dependency, generating employment, providing better remuneration to farmers, for associated environmental benefits, promoting better waste management practices, etc. Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) started selling E20 petrol from 6th February 2023 and E20 fuel is currently sold at more than 1900 retail outlets across the country.
He said that India has taken global leadership role in Biofuels supply chain with the successful launch of Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) in September 2023. “India has been successful to promote GBA as a pivotal path in the sustainability journey at COP 28 held in December 2023. GBA is also an important part of India’s agenda in WEF that is scheduled in Jan’2024”, he said.
The minister said that the government has taken many steps to increase share of natural gas from present 6.3 per cent to 15 per cent in primary energy mix with an investment of $67 billion in natural gas infrastructure over the coming five to six years. This will translate into increase in the gas consumption by over three-fold by the year 2030.
