Govt energy policy panel

Committee to go in for short, medium and long-term review of policies

The government has constituted a committee comprising Power Minister PM Sayeed and Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to address issues relating to the energy policy.

"The committee would go into short, medium and long-term policies and review such policies ranging across sectors, fuels and regions to enhance the country's energy security," Aiyar said in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

He also said India will build a strategic storage facility for creating reserves of 5 million metric tonnes.

This would be in addition to the existing storage of crude oil and petroleum products by oil companies and would provide emergency response mechanism to oil supply disruptions.

India depends heavily on oil imports and Aiyar, in response to another question, said that during 2003-04, import dependence to meet the country's domestic demand for petroleum products was estimated at 70.7 per cent.

During the last fiscal, 33.73 million metric tonnes of crude had been produced indigenously, while 90.43 Mmt crude had been imported.

During April-June this year, 8.52 MMT crude has been produced indigenously while 24.55 MMT crude valued at $ 6.5 billion has been imported.

Crude imports are expected to reach $ 27 billion this fiscal on account of higher international prices and an increase of 11 per cent in demand.