Lok Sabha Question No. 1356 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-01
Subject: Import/Export of Oil
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: Sushil Kumar Singh, Parvesh Sahib Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1356 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1 st  JULY, 2019

## Import/Export of Oil

## 1356. SHRI SUSHIL KUMAR SINGH: SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH:

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS

(a)  whether  the  Government had set up a high-level Committee to formulate a strategy to reduce country's oil import dependency;

(b)  if  so,  the  details  of  the  major  recommendations  of  the  said  Committee  along  with  the action taken by the Government on these recommendations as well as the steps taken by the Government  to  reduce  country's  oil  dependency  on  foreign  countries  during  the  last  five years, year-wise;

(c) the details of the amount spent by the Government on import of petroleum and crude oil during the last ten years, yearwise; and

(d) the details of total revenue earned by the Government through export of petroleum and crude oil to foreign countries during the last ten years, year-wise?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  &  (b)  A  Committee  was  constituted  by  the  Government  for  'Preparing  a  roadmap  to reduce the dependency on import in energy by 10% by 2021-22'. The report submitted by Committee was accepted by the Government which envisages five-pronged strategy broadly comprises of increasing domestic production of oil and gas, promoting energy efficiency and conservation measures, giving thrust on demand substitution, capitalizing untapped potential in  biofuels  and  other  alternate  fuels/  renewables  and  implementing  measures  for  refinery process improvements. Ministry is working in collaboration with various Central Government Ministries on the matter.

Government has taken several steps to enhance exploration & production 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  is  also  promoting  the  usage  of  environment  friendly  transportation  fuel,  i.e. CNG by expanding the  coverage  of  City  Gas  Distribution  (CGD)  network  in  the  country. 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 Biodiesel  blending  in  diesel.  Government  has  formulated  a  National  Bio  Fuel  Policy  2018  to boost availability of biofuels in country.

(c) & (d) The year wise details of the amount spent by the Government on import of  crude oil,  petroleum products and export of petroleum products during the last ten years is given below:

(Amount in Rs. Crore)

| Year        | Import of Crude Oil   | Import of Petroleum Products   | Export of Petroleum Products   |
|-------------|-----------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| 2009-10     | 3,75,277              | 33,800                         | 1,44,687                       |
| 2010-11     | 4,55,276              | 55,998                         | 1,96,861                       |
| 2011-12     | 6,72,220              | 68,091                         | 2,84,644                       |
| 2012-13     | 7,84,652              | 68,852                         | 3,20,090                       |
| 2013-14     | 8,64,875              | 75,896                         | 3,68,279                       |
| 2014-15     | 6,87,416              | 74,644                         | 2,88,580                       |
| 2015-16     | 4,16,579              | 65,361                         | 1,76,780                       |
| 2016-17     | 4,70,159              | 71,566                         | 1,94,893                       |
| 2017-18     | 5,66,450              | 88,374                         | 2,25,388                       |
| 2018-19 (P) | 7,83,427              | 1,13,418                       | 2,67,676                       |

P = Provisional