Page 146 - CW E-Magazine (30-1-2024)

Hydrocarbons

MARKET CHANGES
Govt. defers plan to fi ll parts of strategic petroleum

reserve

The Finance Ministry has said The decision was taken in Novem- ISPRL has established crude oil
that it has deferred its plan to spend ber last year during the Expenditure storage facilities with a capacity of
Rs. 5,000-crore in FY24 to refi ll the stra- Finance Commission (EFC) meeting. 5.33-mt at Vishakhapatnam (1.33-mt),
tegic petroleum reserves. In a post on Mangaluru (1.5-mt) and Padur (2.5-mt) –
X (formerly Twitter), the Ministry said “Based on the recommendations of under phase I of the SPR programme.
that the Department of Expenditure has the EFC, approval of the Cabinet Com- This is equivalent to around 38-million
recommended that the proposal for fi ll- mittee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) barrels and can serve India’s crude
ing crude oil be deferred, considering is being sought. The draft note for requirement for 9.5 days.
the emerging trends in oil markets. approval of CCEA is under process in
the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Under phase II, the government, in
Besides, it said that of the plan to Gas (MoPNG),” it added. July 2021, approved establishing two
provide Rs. 30,000-crore as capital additional commercial-cum-strategic
support to the PSU oil marketing com- In the budget proposals for FY24 reserves with a total storage capacity of
panies (OMCs) for green energy and for the construction of caverns for stor- 6.5-mt at Chandikhol (4-mt) and Padur
net zero initiatives, Rs. 15,000-crore ing crude oil, the government proposed (2.5-mt) under the public-private part-
will be provided to Indian Oil Corpo- a capital expenditure of Rs. 5,000-crore nership (PPP) mode. These reserves
ration, Bharat Petroleum Corporation for Indian Strategic Petroleum will meet an additional 12 days of
Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corpo- Reserves Ltd. (ISPRL) to replenish India’s crude requirement when com-
ration Ltd. in FY24. crude oil reserves. pleted.

SOURCING STRATEGY
India to keep diversifying oil supply, accelerate

energy transition: Oil Minister

Supply cuts by OPEC+, costly ship- have a right to decide on their energy mers to the lowest level in 27 months.
ments from some traditional Middle production, supply cuts against such “I didn’t tell them to reduce it but they
East suppliers and geopolitical tension uncertainty, and the resulting adverse did it because they also wanted to. If
are driving India, the world’s third impact on global prices, will dent long you look at the Indian fi gures in the last
biggest oil importer, to diversify its term demand. It is “imperative” for 2-4 years, some of the major suppliers
crude sources and accelerate its energy India to accelerate its transition to green suddenly became number three and
transition, according to Oil Minister, energy in this scenario, he added. somebody who had only 0.2% (import
Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri. share) went up,” Mr. Puri added.
Iraq followed Saudi Arabia in
“Whenever there is vulnerability charging a premium for oil supplies to Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as the
and uncertainty in the market, the Asian markets, which made their crude top oil supplier to India a few years
transition gets accelerated. No one is “more expensive than crude sourced ago, but cheaper supply from Russia in
looking at that,” Mr. Puri told Reuters elsewhere”, the minister said, noting the aftermath of Western sanctions for
in an interview at the World Economic India is now buying from 37 countries its invasion of Ukraine, has pushed it to
Forum in Davos (Switzerland), refer- up from 29 earlier. the top spot, followed by Iraq and Saudi
ring to attacks by the Houthis on ships Arabia. While concerned over the dis-
in the Red Sea. Saudi Aramco, the national oil ruptions in the Red Sea, Mr. Puri said
giant, this month cut the price of its fl ag- he was “cautiously optimistic” that they
Mr. Puri said while OPEC+ nations ship Arab Light crude to Asian custo- will be resolved.

146 Chemical Weekly January 30, 2024

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