Question : Reduction in Import of Oil

(a) the details of petroleum products imported during the last three years, till date, year-wise
including the funds spent by the country on the said import;
(b) whether the country is dependent on crude oil imports from abroad and if so, the current
percentage of import out of total crude oil demand in the country;
(c) whether the international and domestic supply of petroleum and natural gas is facing a crunch
post COVID19 pandemic and if so, its estimated recovery thereof and whether the Government
has developed a strategy to avoid vulnerability caused by global price fluctuations, if so, the
details thereof;
(d) the details of the progress made since 2014 towards reducing India’s oil import dependence
by 10 per cent by 2022 when compared to 2015-16, year-wise including the details of actions
taken by the Government to reduce India’s oil import dependence from 2014 including the
resulting drop in oil import dependence, if any; and
(e) whether the Government has any plan to come up with an alternative strategy to source oil
domestically and whether the Government is undertaking research and exploration to unearth
more domestic crude oil reserves and whether any success have been achieved in finding the
same?

MINISTER PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) The details of petroleum products imported during the last three years and current year
(quantity as well as value) are as below:
Year Quantity Value
Million tonne US$(Billion) ? (Crores)
2017-18 35.5 13.6 88374
2018-19 33.3 16.3 113665
2019-20 43.8 17.7 125742
2020-21 (April-January) (P) 35.5 10.8 80719
Source: Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell, (P) : Provisional
(b) The details of crude oil import and crude oil processed (indigenous + imported) along with
the percentage during the last three years and current year are as below:
Particulars 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
2020-21
(April-
January)
(P)
Quantity of crude oil import (A) (In MMT) 220.4 226.5 227.0 162.8
Quantity of crude oil processed
(imported + indigenous) (B) (In MMT)
251.9 257.2 254.4 182.2
Percentage of crude oil import out of total
crude oil processed {(A)/(B)} %
87.5 88.1 89.2 89.4
Source: Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell, (P) : Provisional
(c) There was no crunch of international and domestic supply of crude oil and natural gas in the
country post COVID 19 pandemic. Due to constant efforts in diversifying sources of crude
supply and engagement, both, bilaterally and in regional formats, Government of India has been
able to ensure timely and sufficient crude oil supplies to Indian refineries. Moreover, oil
companies have also actively pursued diversification of oil supplies from new sources of crude
oil through long term contracts.To avoid vulnerability caused by global price fluctuations,
refineries maintain optimum inventory levels to strike balance between risk of inventory
holdings and availability of crude for continuous operations.
(d) & (e) Government has taken multiple steps since 2014 to reduce country’s oil import
dependency by 10 per cent by 2022 through refinery process improvements and various policies
under Production Sharing Contract (PSC) regime, Discovered Small Field Policy, Hydrocarbon
Exploration and Licensing Policy, Setting up of National Data Repository, etc. Government has
also provided functional freedom to National Oil Companies and wider private sector
participation by streamlining approval processes including electronic single window mechanism.
Government has launched National Biofuel Policy, 2018, to boost availability of biofuels in
country and use of alternative fuels like ethanol, bio-diesel and bio CNG through Ethanol
Blending, Bio-diesel blending and Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation
(SATAT) initiative respectively.
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