Lok Sabha Question No. 195 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-03
Subject: Crude Oil Import Dependence of India
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Dushyant Singh, Manoj Kishorbhai Kotak

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 195 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3 rd  February 2020

## Crude Oil Import Dependence of India

## 195 .   SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH: SHRI MANOJ KOTAK :

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government had set a target in 2015 to reduce dependence on imports for crude oil by 2022 and can be cut to half by 2030, if so, the details thereof along with the details of crude oil imported in 2015 as a percentage of total consumption over the last five years and target set for 2022 and 2030 in terms of percentage, year-wise;
- (b) whether there is a decline in percentage of dependence on crude oil imports since  2015,  if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  and  whether  the  Government  can achieve the target by 2022; and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the steps taken and the outcome achieved by the plans in the period of 20152020  along  with  the  details  of  plans  to  achieve  the  target  by  2022  with relevant  sectoral  forecasts,  required  upgradations  and  investments  and  the major projects in pipeline to achieve the target by 2022; and
- (d) the  projected  alternate  domestic  sources  of  crude  oil  to  cut  the  oil  import dependence in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) & (b): Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is working in collaboration with various  Central  Government  Ministries/stakeholders  to  make  efforts  to  achieve reduction  in  import  dependency  on  oil.  The  import  reduction  strategy  broadly includes increasing domestic  production  of oil and  gas, improving  energy efficiency  and  productivity,  giving  thrust  on  demand  substitution,  promoting biofuels and alternate fuels/ renewables.  The import dependency on oil based on consumption of petroleum products during the last five years is given below:

| Year    |   Import dependence on oil based on consumption of petroleum products(%) |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15 |                                                                     78.3 |
| 2015-16 |                                                                     80.6 |
| 2016-17 |                                                                     81.7 |
| 2017-18 |                                                                     82.9 |
| 2018-19 |                                                                     83.8 |

of oil and gas in the country which include; Policy for Relaxations, Extensions and Clarifications under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime for early monetization of hydrocarbon discoveries, Discovered Small Field Policy, Hydrocarbon Exploration  and  Licensing  Policy,  Policy  for  Extension  of  Production Sharing Contracts,  Policy for early monetization of Coal Bed Methane, Setting up of National Data Repository, Appraisal of Unappraised areas in Sedimentary Basins, Re-assessment  of  Hydrocarbon  Resources,  Policy  framework  to  streamline  the working of Production Sharing Contracts in Pre-NELP and NELP Blocks, Policy to Promote  and  Incentivize  Enhanced  Recovery  Methods  for  Oil  and  Gas,  Policy framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons under existing Production Sharing Contracts, Coal Bed Methane contracts and Nomination fields.

The  Government  in  February,  2019  approved  major  reforms  in  exploration  and licensing  policy  to  enhance  exploration  activities,  attract  domestic  and  foreign investment  in  unexplored/unallocated  areas  of  sedimentary  basins  and  accelerate domestic production of oil and gas from existing fields. The policy reforms inter-alia aims  to    boost  exploration  activities  with  greater  weightage  to  work  programme, simplified fiscal and contractual terms, bidding of exploration blocks under Category II and  III  sedimentary  basins without any  production or revenue  sharing  to Government,  early  monetization  of  discoveries  by  extending  fiscal  incentives, incentivizing    gas  production including marketing and pricing freedom, induction of latest technology and capital, more functional freedom to National Oil Companies for collaboration and private sector participation for production enhancement methods in nomination  fields,  streamlining  approval  processes  and  promoting  ease  of  doing business including electronic single window mechanism.

Government  has  also  taken  a  number  of  initiatives  to  encourage  the  use  of alternative fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel through Ethanol Blending in Petrol (EBP) Programme and Bio-diesel blending in diesel. Government has formulated a National Bio  Fuel  Policy  2018  to  boost  availability  of  biofuels  in  country.  Government  has launched  a  Sustainable  Alternative  Towards  Affordable  Transportation  (SATAT) initiative  for  producing  Bio  CNG  by  setting  up  5000  Bio-CNG  plants  in  next  five years. With a view to promote bio-fuels, the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) have invited Expression of Interests (EoIs) on to produce bio-diesel from unhealthy Used Cooking Oil (UCO), with an assured price and assured offtake guarantee.

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