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India will play a major role in oil refining as West Europe is not interested in this business due to their focus on developing alternative energy resources and US oil dynamics has changed due to discovery of shale oil, said a senior Indian Oil official here recently.

"Under the circumstances crude oil prices will not increase and likely to remain stable," Head of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), West Bengal, Indrajit Bose a the launch of a joint oil and gas conservation awareness programme by IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, GAIL and PCRA keeping up with the directives of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, on Jan 15 "India has gained excess refining capacity which is at 200 million tonnes and would touch 210 by next plan. India exports 60 million tonnes of refined oil at present," Bose said with respect to country´s oil refining capacity.

West Bengal Food and Supplies Minister Jyoti Priya Mallick was present at the launch. On the occasion an awareness van was flagged off from the Science City which will move through various districts of the state spreading the message, "save fuel, save money, save environment" till Jan 31.

Ministry of petroleum and natural gas has been conducting the oil conservation awareness drive since 1991 with the motive of enlightening citizens on the social and environmental consequences of depleting energy resources and how they can include simple fuel saving techniques in their day to day lives.

Bose said," Earlier the focus was on oil conservation. Gas was included in the campaign in 2004 when it was realised that gas will play a significant role in the country´s progress." Speaking about the changes in the crude oil production scenario in the country, Bose said, "On-shore oil production is now on the higher side at 19.3 million tonnes as against the output of 18.7 million tonnes from the offshore fields."

There has also been a change in the rankings of the oil producing states at the domestic front with Rajasthan taking over as the highest oil producing state followed by Gujarat and Assam, he added. Internationally petrol consumption is now driven by the BRIC and Asia Pacific countries with India being one of the biggest oil importers and consumers. European countries are concentrating on alternative energy resources like wind energy, solar and nuclear energy and the shale boom in the US has changed the supply-chain scenario to a vast extent.

India´s dependence on petroleum and coal is likely to remain longer with projects such as Biodiesel production from Jathropha seeds not reaching the level where it can be made economical for farmers and therefore the chances of its replacing the mainstream fuels is still bleak.

"India´s has emerged as the fourth largest oil economy with crude oil consumption at 150 million tonnes last year and is all set to occupy the third position in the coming year. In this context the efforts to conserve oil and gas become even more significant," Bose said. The country is trying to diversify the energy pool and save environment by raising fuel efficiency through standardisation of automobile equipment an approach similar to the star rating for the electronic goods, informed Bose.

"Keeping with the decision of the government, the oil companies are going to adhere to 5 Percent ethanol mixing with diesel and it can soon go up to 10 Percent," Bose said in context of the policy which the oil companies have failed to implement for quite sometime now. Bose said the country is likely to get a protective cushion from the sudden increase in crude oil prices with the help of strategic storage spaces that will be able to store oil for at least 30 days.

Highlighting the steps taken by the government to curb the misuse of subsidised LPG, direct transfer of subsidy to the accounts of the citizens has helped to reduce false connections by 10-15 Percent, thus saving taxpayers money. Indian government is in the process of bringing the retail price of diesel at par with the industry price in an effort to control its current account deficit by cutting on subsidies.

"Diesel accounts for 45.6 Percentof the fuel utilised by the automobile sector as it is the major recipient of subsidy from January 2013 dual pricing in diesel. Industry buys diesel at  INR 11-12 higher than the retail price. However, oil companies have been mandated to increase the retail price of diesel at the rate of 50-60 paise per month," said Bose on the policy of the government to curb the use of diesel in the domestic and agriculture sector.

Bose said, petrol consumption in the rural India is increasing. "While the growth in oil consumption rate in rural Bengal and in the two tier and three tier cities is in double digits, in Kolkata it is in single digit at 5-6 Percent."

A robust public transport system in the form of metro, tram and bus services is the best answer to rising fuel consumption. The effect of oil and gas conservation campaign launched every year is measured up on the parameters of changes in consuption rates as well as awareness and understandings of oil saving tips, by PCRA through pre-campaign and post-campaign audits with the pre-campaign period being Dec 15 to Jan 15 and post-campaign period being Feb 15 to March 15.

Source-On Request