Question : Reduction in Import of Oil

(a) the annual requirement of petro products in the country along with the percentage of this
requirement imported from abroad;
(b) the current status of benefit/loss per litre to the Government;
(c) the details of steps taken by Government to reduce dependency on fossil fuels from aboard;
(d) whether any new oil exploration projects have been started to reduce dependency from
abroad, if so, the required details thereof;
(e) whether any steps have been taken to improve consumption of bio-fuels in order to reduce
imports from other countries; and
(f) the details of the work plan of the Government for introduction of other alternatives to
petroleum oil?

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) During 2019-20 consumption of petroleum products was 213.7 MMT and percentage of
import dependency of oil and oil equivalent gas was 77.9%.
(b) Currently, the Central Government levies Excise duty on petrol and diesel, whereas State
Governments levy VAT/Sales Tax. Excise duty is levied on specific basis (fixed amount per
litre) and VAT/Sales tax (by most of the states) is levied on an ad-valorem basis. Details of
Excise duty on non GST goods and the rates of products under GST are attached.
(c) to (e) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has identified a basket of strategies inter-alia
including primarily increasing domestic production of oil and gas and promoting
biofuels/alternate fuels with a view to achieve reduction in import of crude oil. Government has
also taken a number of initiatives to encourage the use of alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel
through Ethanol Blending in Petrol (EBP) Programme and Bio-diesel blending in diesel.
Government has formulated a National Bio Fuel Policy 2018 to boost availability of biofuels in
country. To give a major thrust to Ethanol Blending Programme, Oil CPSEs are establishing
twelve 2G Ethanol plants across 11 States of the country.
Page 2 of 4
(f) As per resolution dated 08.11.2019 regarding authorization to market transportation fuel, the
authorized entities, in addition to conventional fuels, are required to install facilities for
marketing at least one new generation alternate fuels like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), biofuels,
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), electric vehicle charging points etc. at their proposed retail
outlets (RO) within three years of operationalization of the said outlet subject to the entity
complying with various other statutory guidelines. Also, as on 31.08.2020, PSU Oil Marketing
Companies have set up Electric Charging facilities at 110 retail outlets and Battery Swapping
Stations at 17 retail outlets in the country.
*************