The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has announced a significant expansion of India’s natural gas pipeline network by an additional 10,805 km, supplementing the existing 24,945 km operational infrastructure. This development is part of the National Gas Grid initiative, aimed at ensuring the uniform availability of natural gas across the country.
As part of its energy diversification efforts, India is also accelerating its Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme, targeting 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. Ethanol blending rose to 16.23% by December 2024, up from 14.60% the previous year. Over the last decade, this initiative has resulted in ₹1.08 lakh crore in foreign exchange savings, a reduction of 557 lakh metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, and ₹92,400 crores in payments to farmers.
The SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative has also achieved a milestone with 80 compressed bio-gas (CBG) plants commissioned and 72 more under construction. Starting in 2025-26, the blending of CBG in CNG and PNG segments will become mandatory, beginning with 1% and increasing to 5% by 2028-29.
In the realm of electric mobility, public sector oil marketing companies have installed 17,939 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and 206 battery-swapping stations at retail outlets nationwide as of December 2024.
Additionally, India’s refining capacity is projected to rise from 256.8 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 309.5 MMTPA by 2028. This increase will be driven by ongoing upgrades at 11 public sector refineries and the establishment of new greenfield refineries.
Domestic natural gas production has also seen a boost, rising from 34.45 billion cubic metres (BCM) in 2022-23 to 36.44 BCM in 2023-24. Further, 13 hydrocarbon discoveries under the Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) and 12 discoveries under nomination and contractual regimes were made during 2023-24.
These initiatives underline India’s commitment to achieving energy security, reducing carbon emissions, and transitioning toward a more sustainable energy future.