Procurement of Ethanol by Oil Marketing Companies
Procurement of Ethanol
by Oil Marketing Companies
The
Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that the requirement of
ethanol for 5 per cent blending with petrol is 133 crores litres and for 10 per
cent blending 266 crore litres for the sugar year 2015-16. Against the tender
floated, offers of 120 crore litres of ethanol have been received by Oil
Marketing Companies (OMCs). One more Expression of Interest (EoI) has been
floated to procure remaining quantity.
In order to improve the availability of ethanol, the Government has fixed the price of ethanol in the range of Rs. 48.50 to Rs. 49.50 per litre, on 10th December, 2014. Further, ethanol produced from other non-food feedstocks besides molasses, like cellulosic and ligno-cellulosic materials including petrochemical route, has also been allowed to be procured, subject to meeting the relevant BIS specifications.
In addition, the procurement process of ethanol has been simplified by OMCs.
Fixation of ethanol price based on distance, has encouraged movement of ethanol to longer distances, including States having lack of distilleries.
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Policy Initiatives for
Enhancing Indigenous Production of Oil and Gas
The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum
& Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written
reply today that in order to accelerate the pace of
exploration and enhance production of oil and gas in the
country, the Government has taken various policy initiatives which are as
under:
§
Early
monetization of discoveries
§ Appraisal
of about 1.5 million sq. km un-appraised area of the Indian Sedimentary Basins.
§ Re-assessment
of Hydrocarbon Resources.
§ Setting
up of National Data Repository.
§ Policy
for exploration and exploitation of Shale Gas/Shale Oil resources by NOCs under
the Nomination Regime.
§ Policy
for exploration in the Mining Lease (ML) areas after the expiry of exploration
period.
§ Offering
of exploration blocks through bidding round.
§ Policy
on Non-exclusive Multi-client Speculative Survey for assessment of unexplored
sedimentary basins.
§ Policy
framework for relaxations, extensions and clarifications at the development and
production stage under the PSC regime for early monetisation of hydrocarbon
discoveries.
§ Policy
on Testing Requirements for Discoveries under New Exploration & Licensing
Policy (NELP) Blocks
§ Use of
modern technology for maximizing production from mature fields.
§ Improving
recovery factor.
Consumption of Petrol, Diesel and LPG for the last
five years is given below:
(All Figures are in TMT)
|
Product
|
2010-11
|
2011-12
|
2012-13
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16 (Apr-Jan)
|
|
Petrol
|
14194
|
14992
|
15744
|
17128
|
19075
|
17961
|
|
Diesel
|
60071
|
64750
|
69080
|
68364
|
69416
|
61442
|
|
LPG
|
14331
|
15350
|
15601
|
16294
|
18000
|
15977
|
The Government has initiated various steps
to promote conservation of petroleum products in the transport, industrial,
agricultural and domestic sectors. These include adoption of measures and
practices which are conducive to increase fuel efficiency and training
programme in the transport sector; modernisation of boilers, furnaces and other
oil operated equipment with efficient ones and promotion of fuel efficient
practices and equipment in the industrial sector; standardisation of fuel
efficient irrigation pump sets and rectification of existing pump sets to make
them more energy efficient in the agricultural sector and development as well
as promotion of the use of fuel efficient equipment and appliances like
kerosene and LPG stoves in the household sector. These activities are promoted
and coordinated by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) and
Oil Marketing Companies under the guidance and supervision of Ministry of
Petroleum & Natural Gas.
*******
Online Initiative for
LPG Distribution
The
Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that online services to LPG
consumers are provided through www.Mylpg.in which provides various services
under single umbrella such as Web Booking with online payments, Online
application for New LPG connections with only payments (Sahaj), Online facility
for Double Bottle Connection Booking, Preferred time delivery, Online
Portability, Locating nearest LPG distributor online on Google maps, Online
request for Mechanic service, Information on 5 Kg Free Trade LPG (FTL), LPG
connection for Piped-Natural-Gas consumers, Online Surrender Connection
request, enrolment to “GiveItUp” subsidy, Rating of Distributors, Submission of
Feedback/Grievances, View Important contact information and Transparency
portal.
Also, consumers are provided with Mobile applications for online transactions.
On line initiatives taken by the Government are proving effective as substantial number of consumers are using these facilities. More than 2 lakh LPG connections have been issued using on-line facility and approx. 10 lakh LPG consumers have booked refills by using this facility. Moreover, nearly 1.15 lakh consumers used on-line logging to voluntarily opt out of subsidy under ‘GiveItUp’ campaign.
Discussion forums have been launched and are available on mylpg.in and myGov.in. LPG consumers/citizens participate and share their thought on the forum online. Valuable suggestions/comments are welcomed and are considered for improving the customer oriented services.
Also, consumers are provided with Mobile applications for online transactions.
On line initiatives taken by the Government are proving effective as substantial number of consumers are using these facilities. More than 2 lakh LPG connections have been issued using on-line facility and approx. 10 lakh LPG consumers have booked refills by using this facility. Moreover, nearly 1.15 lakh consumers used on-line logging to voluntarily opt out of subsidy under ‘GiveItUp’ campaign.
Discussion forums have been launched and are available on mylpg.in and myGov.in. LPG consumers/citizens participate and share their thought on the forum online. Valuable suggestions/comments are welcomed and are considered for improving the customer oriented services.
***********
Gas Pipeline Project of
Gail in Tamil Nadu
The
Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply today that a representation was
received from the Tamil Nadu Farmers Livelihood Protection Group in the year
2012 opposing the acquisition of land for laying of gas pipeline by GAIL
(India) Limited in the State of Tamil Nadu. A clarification was sent to them
that only Right of Use in land is being acquired for laying of pipeline and
after completion of the process of laying of pipeline, the land will be
returned to the land owner for agricultural activities. Further, it was also
clarified that the laying of cross country pipeline along the highway is not
technically feasible for the reason of security, maintenance of pipeline and
disruption of Highways. Later, GAIL (India) Limited was instructed by the
Government of Tamil Nadu vide communication dated 2.4.2013, for laying pipeline
alongside the National Highways without affecting the agricultural lands of the
farmers of Tamil Nadu. GAIL had challenged the above order of Government of
Tamil Nadu (GOTN) in the Hon’ble Madras High Court which quashed the order of
GOTN vide its judgment dated 25.11.2013. The above order of the Madras High
Court was challenged by the Government of Tamil Nadu in the Hon’ble Supreme
Court and the same was dismissed vide judgment dated 2.2.2016. The Hon’ble
Supreme Court ordered the State Government of Tamil Nadu to fix market value of
land as on 1.1.2016 for the Right of Use (RoU) compensation purpose.
The ownership of the land remains with the land owner and RoU of land is acquired for laying of gas pipeline and after laying the pipeline, the land is restored back in original condition to the land owner. Compensation is paid to the land owner as per Petroleum & Minerals Pipelines Act and the Hon’ble Supreme Court have ordered that the RoU compensation against land will be 10% of market value as on 1.1.2016 + 30% Solatium. Farmers can continue agricultural activities after the restoration of land and only construction of permanent structure, plantation of deep rooted trees are not allowed in the acquired RoU and as such there will be no adverse effect to the interest of the farmers.
The ownership of the land remains with the land owner and RoU of land is acquired for laying of gas pipeline and after laying the pipeline, the land is restored back in original condition to the land owner. Compensation is paid to the land owner as per Petroleum & Minerals Pipelines Act and the Hon’ble Supreme Court have ordered that the RoU compensation against land will be 10% of market value as on 1.1.2016 + 30% Solatium. Farmers can continue agricultural activities after the restoration of land and only construction of permanent structure, plantation of deep rooted trees are not allowed in the acquired RoU and as such there will be no adverse effect to the interest of the farmers.
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