New Delhi: Union Minister for Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan held talks with Finland Ambassador to India, Ritva Koukku-Ronde, regarding fuel cooperation. It is reported that discussions were held even with the Australian Ambassador before that. India is consistently holding talks with various countries of the world for its fuel security. Only two days ago, Pradhan informed that India is making efforts to create strategic fuel stocks in other countries, including the United States. India is focussing on importing oil from countries other than its traditional suppliers. Pradhan underlined that as of today, India is importing oil from more than 30 countries.
The Petroleum Minister had participated in the recently held ‘Energy Security Towards Atmanirbhar Bharat’ conference. At this time, he informed about the Indian efforts for fuel security. India and the United States signed an agreement on 17th July, for emergency fuel stores. Currently, India has an underground oil storage capacity of 5.3 million tonnes. Pradhan said that two ore projects to increase this capacity by 6.5 million tonnes have been sanctioned in principle. Pradhan invited investors to invest in these projects.
India imports 85% of its oil requirement. 101.4 million tonnes of oil was imported in the last financial year. Two-thirds of this was imported from the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. But India is increasing oil imports from countries other than the Gulf countries. Indian companies have entered long-term agreements with countries like the United States, Russia and Angola. Pradhan said that India has also started importing oil from countries like South Africa and Latin American countries, taking the total number to more than 30.
Against this background, the meetings with the Ambassadors of Finland and Australia, become important. A project to produce ethanol using Bamboo is being built jointly with a company from Finland, at Numaligarh in Assam. It is reported that discussions were held regarding this project with the Ambassador of Finland. This is the first project of this kind in the world. Various possibilities, for fuel cooperation, were examined during the meeting with Barry O’Farrell, the Australian Ambassador. It is reported that discussions were held regarding investment into the fuel gas sector in India and the supply of hydrocarbons.
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