The Union Petroleum Ministry is finalizing a report which would suggest a comprehensive strategy to reduce import dependency on crude, gas, and coal by 2024-25, as per sources aware of the development. The ministry had formed several working groups for monitoring the progress of various measures being taken by different departments and ministries to curb dependency on imported crude and gas, the sources said.
The reports prepared by these working groups have been compiled and would be presented as a comprehensive strategy on part of the Central government to reduce import dependency on crude oil, gas, and coal in the entire energy sector, they added.
These reports by working groups provided support to the Petroleum Ministry’s efforts to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for the reduction of imported crude by 2024-25, which include measures like improving energy efficiency and productivity as well as improving refinery processes and promoting greater use of bio and alternate fuels.
These working groups had members from different stakeholding ministries, oil and gas entities, think tanks as well as other stakeholders. They studied the impact of several initiatives taken by the ministries concerned between 2015-16 and 2019-20 to achieve the overall objective of reducing import dependency on oil as well as gas and also coal. The reports prepared by these groups took into consideration all the measures taken by various departments to reduce dependency on imported crude, gas, and coal.
As there have been talks of reducing crude oil dependency within the government, a need has also been felt, sources said, to adopt a multi-sectoral approach to address the issue of managing the demand of petroleum products to achieve this objective.
Sources further said that efforts to reduce import dependency on these commodities also needed a depth study of sector-related policies.
