Question : Supply of LPG from Qatar

(a) whether India has requested its largest LPG supplier, Qatar to lower the price of gas under the existing long term supply contracts;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the response of Qatar in this regard;
(c) whether the Government is considering on the idea of supply of LPG from some other nation on cheap price;
(d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken/ being taken by the Government in this direction; and
(e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to alternate source of energy to reduce its dependency on petroleum and petroleum related products?

MINISTER OF PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) to (d) Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have reported that they have tied up yearly contracts with various countries having exportable LPG in the middle east and Qatar is one of them. The pricing of LPG yearly term contracts are linked to the Saudi Contract Price (Saudi CP) declared on monthly basis by Saudi Aramco.
(e) Government has taken a number of initiatives to encourage the use of alternative fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel 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 bio-fuels in the country. Government has launched a Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative for producing Bio CNG by setting up Bio-CNG plants. Further, steps have been taken to increase the share of natural gas in primary energy mix in the country by developing infrastructure in the form of Natural Gas Pipelines/LNG Terminals/CGD networks.
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