By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI:Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steeel Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday said that as per Monthly Oil Market Report published by OPEC in September, 2019, country’s oil demand will rise by 3.21 per cent to 4.88 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2019 from 4.73 mb/d during the previous year. As per Monthly Oil Market Report published by OPEC in September, 2019, India’s oil demand will further rise to 5.05 mb/d by 2020 (3.36% year on year), outpacing China’s oil demand growth (2.37%).
The oil conservation measures to be taken at the end-users level, inter-alia, includes:
Reducing energy consumption through introduction of standard and labeling program for equipments using petro-based fuels such as Domestic LPG Stoves, Diesel Irrigation Pump Sets & Diesel Generator Sets.
Training of drivers and organization of transport workshops. Sensitizing farmers on petroleum conservation through KisanMelas, agriculture workshops etc.Carrying out energy audits. Educating housewives on efficient use of domestic LPG. Mass awareness activities through Saksham Campaigns, Social Media campaigns, campaigns on TV, Radio & Newspapers, literature, Exhibitions etc.
At present, no proposal is under consideration of Government to make assessment for revising the domestic natural gas pricing formula notified on October 25th, 2014. The domestic natural gas pricing guidelines, 2014 were approved by the Government after detailed deliberation, including Rangarajan Committee Report and Report of Committee of Secretaries on this subject matter and inter-ministerial consultation.
The domestic natural gas pricing guidelines, 2014 is formula based and has been worked out considering the volumes and prices prevailing at major international markets such as Henry Hub, National Balancing Point, Alberta and Russia. The formula has been finalized considering the requirements of producing and consuming sectors, and had tried to make a fine balance between their interests. The prices are notified every six month in accordance with said guidelines.
To incentivize additional production of natural gas, Government vide Notification dated March 21st, 2016 granted marketing including pricing freedom on natural gas produced from Deep water, Ultra deep water and High Pressure-High Temperature areas subject to ceiling price based on landed price of alternate fuels.
Further, Government has also granted marketing and pricing freedom for sale of natural gas under Discovered Small Field Policy, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy and Coal Bed Methane (CBM) contracts. In addition, Government vide Notification dated February 28th, 2019 granted marketing and pricing freedom to those new gas discoveries whose Field Development Plan (FDP) will be approved for the first time after the Notification.
