India has achieved 20% ethanol blending in petrol last month, ahead of schedule, announced Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, while addressing the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round-IX and Special Discovered Small Field (DSF) Signing Ceremony.
He said, “India’s biofuel story is well known. We had 1.4% ethanol blending in 2014, and last month, we completed 20% blending—six years in advance.”
Reacting on news of government plans for increasing ethanol blending to 30 per cent by 2030, he said, “Yes, that is broadly the direction we are heading in, but still we have a lot of homework to do.”
The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018, as amended in 2022, interalia advanced the target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol to Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26 from year 2030. Public Sector OMCs have achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol in June 2022 i.e. five months ahead of the target during ESY 2021-22. Blending of ethanol further increased to 12.06% in ESY 2022-23, 14.60% in ESY 2023-24.
He highlighted that through investor-friendly reforms, swift approvals, scientific exploration, and a strong emphasis on sustainability, India is steadily building a resilient and future-ready energy ecosystem aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat.
With India currently reliant on imports for 88% of its crude oil and 50% of its natural gas needs, the urgency for domestic exploration and production has never been greater. As the Minister pointed out, “In the next two decades, 25% of the world’s incremental energy demand growth will come from India.”
Reflecting on the past, Shri Puri acknowledged the challenges the Indian upstream sector faced between 2006 and 2016—a “dull decade” marred by policy paralysis and procedural delays, leading to the exit of global energy giants like BG, ENI, and Santos. However, the tide has turned. “We were determined to unlock India’s untapped energy potential, estimated at approximately 42 billion tonnes of oil and oil equivalent of gas,” he said.
To that end, the Government has implemented a series of transformative reforms over the past decade. A key achievement has been the expansion of exploration activity, with the explored area of India’s sedimentary basins increasing from 6% in 2014 to 10% today, with a target of reaching 15%. The Minister reiterated the commitment to increasing exploration acreage to 1 million sq. km by 2030, highlighting the dramatic 99% reduction in “No-Go” areas within India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
