Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri made a comment on Tuesday that the government has increased ethanol blending in gasoline from 1.53 percent in 2013-14 to 10.17 percent in 2022 and advanced its target to achieve 20 percent ethanol blending in gasoline from 2030 to 2025-26.
He claimed that India’s energy security strategy, which focuses on diversifying energy supplies, expanding its footprint in exploration and production, and addressing energy transition through gas-based economies, green hydrogen, and electric vehicles, has allowed it to survive the world’s most severe energy crisis since the 1973 oil crisis.
In order to limit the consumption of fossil fuels, the government has started the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Program. The fuel we use now contains 10% ethanol due to the achievement of the E10 objective.
According to Puri, India’s crude oil suppliers have grown from 27 in 2006–07 to 39 in 2021–22, including new suppliers like Colombia, Russia, Libya, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.
“At the same time, we have strengthened our relationship with countries like the US and Russia,” he added.
The minister added that while diesel prices increased by only 3% in India between December 2021 and December 2022, they increased by 34% in the US, 36% in Canada, 25% in Spain, and 10% in the UK.
Ethanol is also known as ethyl alcohol or alcohol, with the chemical formula C2H5OH. It is produced spontaneously through sugar fermentation. It is mostly produced in India during the sugarcane extraction process. However, it can also be made from other organic materials, such as food grains.