Subir Raha, chairman and managing director of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has mooted a three-pronged strategy for the country to achieve energy security by securing the sources of supply and transportation of oil and gas.
"India has nearly a fifth of the world's population and less than 1 per cent of its oil and gas reserves. With a population of over a billion and growing, and per capita energy consumption being less than a fourth of the level in developed nations, the demand for oil and gas would experience a sustained rise in the years to come," Raha said.
"Under the circumstances it is impossible to even expect a situation where the country could hope to be free of dependence of imported oil and gas. In such a scenario, the way to achieve energy security is to secure the sources of supply and transportation of oil and gas and this is to be done at three levels," he added.
One, Raha said, the country has to build strategic oil stockpiles, which is at present at the level of a few weeks.
US has a stockpile for at least six months and its size can be estimated from the fact that India's annual consumption is equal to US' fortnightly consumption.
Though a strategic stockpile costs money, it is a good investment, he added. Two, the means of transporting oil should be secured.
This could be done by consciously building a fleet of Indian flagged oil tankers and vessels. This required action at the national level, Raha said.
Coastal shipping for supplies from friendly Asian nations and inland waterways for supply to the hinterland also had to be developed.
Transportation cost was the lowest for pipelines, rising in stages for shipping and multimodal rail and road, he elaborated.
Three, the ONGC chief said, non-disruptive means of oil and gas transportation such as pipelines will have to be laid.
The Siberian oil and gas pipeline supplied energy to France right through the peak of the Cold War.
For India, a pipeline across the Himalayas to the north had no meaning but pipelines from the east and west made a lot of sense.
Pipelines from the south or oceanic reserves was another option that would have to be considered.
As far as other fuels were concerned, ethanol generated from cane and mixed in petrol could account for 15 per cent of supply, while vegetable oils mixed for use as bio-diesel could account for a similar figure. Coal would continue to provide half of the country's needs for the next 25 years.
