Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for key oil and gas sector projects in Tamil Nadu via video conferencing. The Prime Minister began his address saying that the projects are important not just for the growth of Tamil Nadu, but also the entire country.

Modi started his speech saying that India imported over 85 percent of oil and 53 per cent of gas to meet the demand in 2019-20.

“Our Government is sensitive to the concerns of the middle class. That is why India is now:Increasing the focus on ethanol to help farmers and consumers. Furthering usage of solar power to become a leader in the sector. Encouraging public transport to make people’s lives productive and easy. Embracing alternative sources like LED Bulbs to enable huge savings for middle class households,” Modi said.

India is working to meet the growing energy demand. India is also reducing our energy import dependence. At the same time, we are also diversifying our import sources. “ In 2019-20, we were 4th in the world in refining  capacity. About 65.2 million tonnes of petroleum products have been exported. This number is expected to rise even further. Our companies have ventured overseas in acquisition of quality oil and gas assets. Today, Indian Oil and Gas companies are present in 27 countries with investments worth approximately Rupees two lakh seventy thousand crore,” the Prime Minister added.

Modi further said that India is developing a gas pipeline network to achieve ‘One Nation One Gas Grid’. “We have planned to spend seven and a half lakh crores in creating oil and gas infrastructure over five years. A strong emphasis has been laid on the expansion of city gas distribution networks by covering 407 districts,’ he added.

Indian Oil’s 143 Km long natural gas pipeline from Ramanathapuram to Tuticorin being launched today will monetise the gas from ONGC gas fields. This is a part of a larger natural gas pipeline project being developed at a cost of Rs. 4,500 crore. “It will benefit: Ennore, Thiruvallur, Bengaluru, Puducherry, Nagapattinam, Madurai, Tuticorin. These gas pipeline projects would also enable the development of City Gas projects which are being developed at 10 districts in Tamil Nadu  at an investment of Rs.5,000 crore.

“These projects will make available: Clean cooking fuel to households, PNG, Alternate transport fuel as CNG to vehicles and local industries.

“The gas from ONGC field will now be delivered to Southern Petrochemical Industries Corp. Limited Tuticorin.This pipeline is going to supply of natural gas as feedstock  at a cheaper cost to SPIC for manufacturing fertiliser.

“Feedstock will now be continuously available with no storage requirements. This is expected to result in saving in the range of Rs.70 to Rs.95 crores in cost of production annually. This will also bring down the final cost of production of fertiliser. We are eager to increase gas share in our energy basket from 6.3 percent currently to 15 per cent.

“Development projects bring with it several benefits. The CPCL’s new refinery at Nagapattinam anticipates about 80% indigenous sourcing of materials and services. The refinery is going to boost development of transport facilities, downstream petrochemical industries, ancillary and small scale industriesin the region. This new refinery will produce MS and Diesel meeting BS-VI specifications and Polypropylene as a value-added product,” Modi said.

Today, India is increasing the share of energy from renewable sources. By 2030, 40% of all energy will be generated from green energy sources. CPCL’s new Gasoline desulphurisation Unit at its refinery in Manali inaugurated today is another effort for a greener future. The refinery will now produce low sulphur environment friendly fuel of BS VI specification.

Since 2014 we have brought in various reforms across the Oil and Gas sector covering exploration and production, natural gas, marketing and distribution. “We are working on attracting domestic and international investment through investor friendly measures. We are trying to eliminate the cascading effect of different taxes on natural gas across different states. Uniformity of tax will lead to reduction of cost of natural gas and increase in its usage across industries. We are committed to bringing natural gas under the GST regime,” the PM said.