• Pradhan appeals to FM Nirmala Sitharaman to include natural gas and ATF in GST

    Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today appealed to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take up the petroleum sector’s long-pending demand of including petroleum products under the ambit of Good and Service Tax (GST).

    “There has been continuous demand from the petroleum industry for inclusion of petroleum products under GST regime. I make a strong appeal to Hon’ble Finance Minister to take this up in the GST council and at least make a beginning by including natural gas and ATF in the GST,” Pradhan said at India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, an industry event.

    Pradhan informed that various oil and gas bidding rounds conducted by the government under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) and the Discovered Small Field (DSF) round will lead to an investment of $58 billion in the exploration and production sector by 2023.

    Talking on the government’s thrust to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket to 15 per cent by 2030, Pradhan said, “Special thrust is being given to promote gas based economy under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi. We have a shining example of Gujarat state where natural gas share is 25% which is more than the world’s average of around 23%.I am happy to inform you that as we speak, an estimated investment of 60 billion US dollars is lined up in building gas pipelines, terminals, and City Gas infrastructure that are in different stages of implementation.”

    Talking about energy sustainability, Pradhan stressed that the new National Biofuel policy will ensure an integrated approach to produce bio-fuels from various types of agriculture residue and municipal solid waste. Pradhan added that entrepreneurs who are currently undertaking projects to produce compressed biogas from bio-waste under the government’s Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative are experiencing difficulties in accessing bank finance.

    “These private entrepreneurs are experiencing some difficulties in access to bank finance for setting up CBG plants. I request Hon’ble Finance Minister to look into this challenge,” Pradhan said.

    He added that the government has targeted to establish 5000 compressed bio-gas plants under the SATAT initiative.

    Pradhan highlighted that International Energy Agency (IEA) in its latest report said during the period 2015 to 2018, investments in the energy sector in India recorded the second highest growth in the world.

    The growing presence of global oil and gas majors like Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, BP, Shell, Total, Rosneft and ExxonMobil in India is a testimony to the faith and confidence of global investors India’s growth story, he said.

    Share This
    Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutube