Press Information Bureau

1.         Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). Under “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package” (PMGKP), as part of the Economic response to COVID-19, free of cost LPG cylinders are being provided to PMUY beneficiaries for upto three free LPG refills till 31.12.2020. OMCs have delivered 1413.38 lakh refills to PMUY beneficiaries under this Scheme as on 30.11.2020 and more than 7.5 Cr PMUY beneficiaries have availed free cylinders under the scheme.

2.         Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bidding Rounds. During the year 2020, 11 blocks having area of 19,789 sq. km. awarded in October 2020 under OALP bid Round V.

3.         Development of Non-monetized Discoveries:  During FY 2020-21, total 05 discoveries (04 from nomination regime-03 from ONGC, 01 from OIL and 01 from PSC) have been monetised as on Nov’ 20.

4.         Inauguration of India Gas Exchange in June, 2020: Gas Trading Platform by Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) will be a delivery-based trading platform for delivery of natural Gas. IGX is 100% subsidiary of IEX presently. Shortly, IEX will have few strategic investors from gas industry.

5.         Under the New Guidelines for authorization to market transportation fuels, authorization has been given to 04 companies and 01 application is under consideration in the Ministry.

6.         Auto Fuel Vision and Policy:  Improve access to clean fuel: Ensure availability of BS-VI compliant fuel. BS-VI standard in auto fuels has been implemented in the country w.e.f. 01.04.2020 as per schedule

7.         National Gas Grid. A total of 1544 Kms of pipelines have been laid as part of the National Gas Grid in 2020.

8.         International Cooperation/ Important Agreements/Contracts/ Investments

• As part of strengthening energy security, India has added Russia and Angola as new sources for crude oil imports on term basis. The Ministerial level meetings further strengthened the strategic energy partnerships with US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and UAE, and also in strengthening energy corridors with neighbouring countries.
• Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas actively participated in the meetings of G20 Energy Ministers, High level Dialogue with OPEC and International Energy Forum (IEF) on global crude and natural gas market stability.
• Hon’ble Prime Minister inaugurated for the first time the fourth edition of CERAWeek India Energy Forum held in October 2020, and also announced the new Energy Map of India with seven key drivers of energy.
• Taking advantage of low crude oil prices, all the three Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) located at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur were filled to the full capacity resulting in savings of about Rs.5000 crores.

9.         Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme. During Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2019-20, 172.43 crore litre of Ethanol has been procured by OMCs for blending purpose till 30.11.2020. Remunerative prices have been fixed for various feedstocks under Ethanol Blending programme. The price of ethanol from sugar has been raised by Rs. 3.17 per litre, B Heavy molasses by Rs. 3.34 per litre and from C-Heavy molasses by Rs. 1.94 per litre. The Government has for the first time allowed production of ethanol from maize and surplus rice available with Food Corporation of India (FCI).

10.       Rationalisation of gas pipeline tariff. Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has notified a draft PNGRB (Determination of Natural Gas Pipeline Tariff) Amendment Regulations, 2020, September, 2020 to declare all such inter-connected pipelines of multiple pipeline entities, including the already awarded bid-out pipelines, as one National Gas Grid System (NGGS).

11.       Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT). “Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)” initiative was launched on 1st October 2018 wherein Oil and Gas Marketing Companies are inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential entrepreneur to procure Compressed Bio Gas (CBG). Under this initiative 621 Letters of Intent (LoIs) have been issued till 15th December 2020. Supply of CBG initiated from 7 plants and sale initiated from 13 Retail Outlets.

12.  PP-LC (Purchase preference linked with local content) policy completely revised to make it more effective in encouraging locally produced goods, thus supporting Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

13.       Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG) in consultation with Oil & Gas PSUs/ Organisations of MoP&NG have planned to construct 50,000 Dwelling Units (DUs) under the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme (ARHCs) for migrant labour.

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YB/SK