India Will Contribute 25% Of Global Fuel Demand By 2040: Hardeep Singh Puri

The Minister of Petroleum and Natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said India will contribute 25 per cent of global fuel demand by 2040 and achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025.

India increased the number of its crude oil suppliers from 27 countries in 2006-07 to 39 in 2021-22, adding new suppliers like Columbia, Russia, Libya, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea etc., while strengthening our relationship with countries like US and Russia, said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural gas.

The Minister also said India has advanced its target to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol from 2030 to 2025-26. He informed that the country has increased the ethanol blending in petrol from 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 10.17 per cent in 2022 

The phased rollout of E20 (mix of 20 per cent ethanol and 80 per cent petrol) will commence on 1 April 2023, said Indian government said in a press statement.

The Centre is currently setting up five 2G ethanol biorefineries in the country at Panipat (Parali) in Haryana, Bathinda in Punjab, Bargarh (Parali) in Odisha, Numaligarh (Bamboo) in Assam and Davangere in Karnataka.

Indian government has also increased the rate for Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants under the SATAT scheme from Rs 46/kg to Rs 54/kg and is taking steps to ensure bio manure produced during CBG production is bundled with fertilizers like urea. 

The Modi-led government is investing Rs19,744 crore into the National Green Hydrogen Mission for developing green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonnes) per annum. India's petroleum refineries constitute the majority of demand for the fuel, and MoP&NG will aggressively pursue green hydrogen to support the development of the nascent industry. OMCs are targeting the installation of Alternate Fuel Stations (EV charging/ CNG/ LPG/ LNG/ CBG etc.) at 22,000 Retail Outlets by May 2024.