India aims for increased refining capacity with focus on 20 MTPA refineries: Union Minister Hardeep Puri
May 30, 2023
New Delhi [India], May 30 : Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that India would be building more refineries and would increase the capacity to 450 million tonnes (MT) per annum.
While speaking at the first energy summit organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and North India Council here, Puri said, "Refineries will make petro-chemicals and green hydrogen. At this time, the refining capacity is around 250 million tonne per annum and we want to increase it to 400 or 450 million tonnes per annum. We are looking at a large number of 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) refineries and not the bigger ones."
Talking about India's stride towards green energy, the minister said, "We have reached 10 per cent blending in June 2022, and our saving on import bill was Rs 41,000 crore, benefiting farmers, also. We will achieve the target of 20 per cent blending by 2025, much before the initial target of 2030. In bio-fuel, India is a success story. We are using presidency in G20 for the bio-fuel alliance."
Against the backdrop of the summit organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and North India Council (IACC-NIC), Puri said, "Any collaboration with the US would require a considerable focus on clean energy. India and US are in the process of carving out a new partnership which will not only add strength and intensify existing areas of cooperation but also carve out new areas. Despite turbulences, we have not allowed prices of oil and gas to go up; prices have not gone up since April 2022 despite the Russia-Ukraine issue."
He added, "On two occasions, November 2021 and May 2022, PM (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) decided to reduce excise duty; non-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-ruled states did not reduce and sell at higher prices; this is, what I call, inherent hypocrisy in Indian energy discourse."
Maintaining that existing challenges in green energy are availability, affordability and sustainability and that every action is measured in terms of quantified delivery to consumers, the minister praised PM Narendra Modi's leadership to achieve the goals.
"Our domestic gas production went up by 18 per cent, normal gas cylinder distribution went up to 31 crore, PNG (piped natural gas) connections went up from 25.4 lakh to 1.05 crore; this happened due to well thought-out policy," the minister said.
In the theme address, Sunil Jain, Summit Chair and Chairman, Energy Committee, IACC, and Operating partner, Essar Capital Limited, said, "If the world has to achieve, we have to install three times resources from renewable energy. India needs 500-billion dollars in the next eight years by 2030. We need a large storage capacity like nuclear energy. Energy transition calls for a holistic approach, and integration of technology."
Lalit Bhasin, National President, IACC, said, "There is preparedness at every level in India to tackle climate change. We have to address issues in such a way that we move away from traditional sources of energy, have ideal time frame for transition and alternative sources of sustainable energy."
