Government taking steps to strengthen strategic petroleum reserves: MoS Suresh Gopi

Union Minister of State for Tourism and Petroleum Suresh Gopi told Lok Sabha in a written reply that to augment the SPR capacity, Government, in July 2021, had also approved the establishment of two additional commercial-cum-strategic petroleum reserve facilities with total storage capacity of 6.5 MMT at Chandikhol (4 MMT) in Odisha and Padur (2.5 MMT) in Karnataka, on a Public Private Partnership mode.

Government and OMCs evaluate, from time to time, the possibility of augmentation of storage capacities based on technical and commercial feasibility. Assessment of new sites for establishing additional petroleum reserves is a continuous process, he said.

To ensure security of crude supplies and to mitigate the risk of dependence on crude oil from single region, Indian Oil Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have diversified their crude basket and are procuring crude from countries located at various geographical locations viz. Middle East, Africa, North America, South America etc.

Further, Government has already diversified the import of LNG by adding Australia, USA and UAE as sourcing destinations. India has also signed various long term agreements for procurement of LNG for ensuring uninterrupted supplies and safeguearding from price volatility.

To counter the reliance on fossil fuels, Government has adopted a multi-pronged strategy to promote clean energy which, inter alia, include demand substitution by promoting usage of natural gas as fuel/feedstock across the country towards increasing the share of natural gas in economy and moving towards gas based economy, the minister said.

To promote the use of biofuels across the country, various programmes, such as Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, wherein Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) sell petrol blended with ethanol, Biodiesel blending programme wherein biodiesel is blended with diesel, have been taken up. (ANI)