Public sector companies in the oil industry have invested ₹34,000 crore to upgrade plants for producing BS-VI fuel, said Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday.

India leapfrogged from BS-IV to BS-VI emission standards in April last year. The Central government took the decision in January 2016, when Pradhan had said that oil PSUs would invest about ₹28,750 crore for switching over to BS-VI vehicular fuels.

The country will chart its own strategy and pathway for green energy transition as it creates a global model of energy justice by balancing accessibility and affordability, Pradhan said at the joint conferences of the 11th World PetroCoal Congress and World Future Fuel Summit.

India’s energy demand is going to increase in the future, and it has taken a number of concrete steps that are shaping India’s energy transition pathways for a low-carbon economy, the minister said.

‘Gas-based economy’

Pradhan said that ensuring access to clean cooking fuel to every household of the country has been a key strategy of the Modi government for ending energy poverty. The number of LPG customers has gone up to almost 29 crores in 2021 from 14.5 crore in 2014, he said, adding that the provision for additional 1 crore LPG connections under PMUY (Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana) announced in the Budget this year will help in achieving universal coverage.

To build a gas-based economy, an investment of $60 billion is under-way for developing gas infrastructure which includes pipelines, city gas distribution and LNG regasification terminals, Pradhan said.

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