Govt taking up crude oil price volatility issue with oil-producing nations, OPEC

In view of rising crude oil demand in the country, the government said it has been taking up the issue bilaterally with crude oil-producing countries, OPEC and with heads of other international fora to convey India's serious concerns over crude oil price volatility and its strong preference for responsible and reasonable pricing for consumer countries.

India's oil demand is expected to rise from nearly 5 million barrels per day (bpd) currently to 11 million bpd till 2045.

The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday informed that the World Oil Outlook 2021, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) flagship publication, has projected that the oil demand in India is expected to reach around 11 million bpd by 2045 as compared to approximately 4.9 million bpd in 2021.

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The government, he said, is taking various steps to provide for the country’s energy security through increased domestic production of oil and gas in all states of India, diversifying import sources to new countries and regions; and diversifying energy sources beyond traditional hydrocarbons’ to emerging fuels like ethanol, compressed biogas, hydrogen etc through schemes such as ethanol blending programme (EBP) and sustainable alternative towards affordable transportation (SATAT).

Also, the government has been taking up the issue, bilaterally with crude oil-producing countries with OPEC and with heads of other international fora to convey India's serious concerns over crude oil price volatility, and India's strong preference for responsible and reasonable pricing for consumer countries, he informed the House.

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