Target to reduce energy imports by 10% by 2020: Pradhan

The Dollar Business Bureau

The government said on Monday that the measures are being taken to increase the production of oil and gas in the country in order to cut crude oil imports, which makes up for about 82% of the overall domestic consumption this financial year.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the target of the government is to cut the imports of energy by 10% by 2021-22.

“To reduce imports to meet the energy needs, the government has taken several steps to enhance exploration and production of oil and gas in the country,” Pradhan told the Lok Sabha.

In a written reply, the Minister said that in this fiscal till the month of January, the share of crude imports based on the domestic consumption was at 82%. In the previous fiscal, the same was stood at 80.9%. 

Over the past three fiscals, the volume of imported crude has been increasing. In FY2013-14, it was 77.6% and increased to 78.5% in 2014-15.

Most of the production of crude oil in India is from ageing oilfields in the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and offshore fields, Pradhan said.

While mentioning that the maximum numbers of oil wells are closed in Assam and Gujarat, he said that oil firms are implementing latest technologies to increase recovery of oil from the ageing fields.

“The oil companies have taken/are taking several measures to revive the sick wells to increase oil production, such as improved Oil Recovery/Enhanced Oil Recovery schemes,” he said.

He also assured there would be no clash between the production of oil and gas and agriculture farming while replying to a question on the environmental concerns with regards to a project in Tamil Nadu.