• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Kochi, Jan. 14

The State Transport Minister, Mr Mathew T. Thomas, will inaugurate the State-level Oil and Gas Conservation Fortnight 2008 here on Tuesday at Kerala Fine Arts Hall.

The Minister will also flag off a mass rally on conservation, in which over 500 children from various schools from the city will take part.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr B. Ashok, State Level Coordinator of Oil Industry, said that PSU oil companies and Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) conducted various activities throughout the year to propagate ways to conserve petroleum products. During the oil and gas conservation fortnight, these efforts are intensified and special drives are conducted to educate the users, he said.

Campaigns designed for each target group are carried out during the fortnight. Major target groups are transport, domestic, industrial and agriculture. Apart from special drives for these sectors, mass awareness programmes are also organised.

Ever increasing dependence on fossil fuels and resulting environmental damages has reached alarming levels. India imports more than 71 per cent of its crude oil. The oil import bill for 2006-07 stood at Rs 2,60,380 crore, an increase of more than 32 per cent over previous year.

This unprecedented increase and the over-dependence on other countries for the country’s energy needs makes conservation efforts important for sustaining the economy, he said.

He said the consumption of oil products in Kerala was 3.8 million tonnes last year and the trend is increasing owing to the rise in the number of vehicles on road. The growth in 2006-07 is 8.3 per cent for petrol, 3.2 per cent for diesel and 5.2 per cent for LPG.

More Stories on : Petroleum | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Blazing tower

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line