Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that to cut down on import of Crude oil, the NDA government has taken decisive steps towards reducing imports by 10 per cent and saving precious foreign exchange.
The Prime Minister stated this during his address after inaugurating the Kochi refinery expansion complex of the public sector Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. He spoke at length on the petrochemical sector in the country. Eleven oil PSUs have adopted the modern ‘lignocellulosic’ route for establishing twelve 2G ethnol plants in 11 states of the country, Modi informed the gathering and added that six MoUs have already been signed in this regard.
The integrated refinery is equipped with the technology to produce cleaner fuel, besides being able to double the production of LPG and diesel. Petrochemical complex at the BPCL Kochi refinery is a Make in India initiative aimed at reducing dependence on imports.
The skill development institute at Ettumanoor in Kottayam district, backed by the Ministry of Petrochemical and Natural Gas, would provide vocational training and enhance employability and entrepreneurship for deserving youth both in oil & gas and other industries. This world class institute was being set up at an eight acre campus allocated by the state government and would have a capacity to skill around 1,000 youths annually in 20 different skills.
The NDA government was promoting the use of environment-friendly transport fuel called theĀ City Gas Distribution (CGD) and after the successful completion of 10th CGD bidding Round, more than 400 districts of the country would be connected for providing piped gas supply, he said.
Talking about he National Gas Grid or Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project, Modi said it has been created to have a gas-based economy and to enhance the share of gas in the energy basket. The government was also thinking of developing additional 15,000 kilometers of gas pipeline network.
India is the second largest oil refiner in Asia and is emerging as a refinery hub with refining more than its demand, and its refinery capacity currently stood at more than 247 MMTPA. Modi said under the Ujjwala Yojana scheme, the government had provided nearly 6 crore LPG connections to the poor people since it was launched in 2016.
More than 23 crore LPG consumers had joined the Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (PAHAL) scheme that helps in identifying ghost, multiple and inactive accounts and it has now entered into the Guinness book of World record for being the largest direct benefit transfer scheme, lauded Modi.
Kochi Refinery, by doubling the LPG production with the help of recent expansion, is making a great contribution towards Ujjwala. The Integrated Refinery Expansion Project was also a strategic move of Bharat Petroleum to diversify into non-fuel sector, he said.
Observing that we don’t speak much about petro-chemicals, the Prime Minister said they exist invisibly and touch many aspects of our daily life: building materials, plastics and paints, foot-wear, clothing and other fabrics or auto-motive parts, cosmetics and medicines.
He also noted that most of these chemicals are imported from other countries and said it is our endeavour to see that these are manufactured in India itself.
“I am happy that using the capability of Kochi Refinery to produce propylene after the execution of IREP, BPCL has gone ahead with putting up three world-class plants to manufacture acrylic acid acrylates and oxo alcohol under Make In India. These petro-chemicals will find use in paints, inks, coating, detergent,and in many other articles,” he said.
Reaching out to the labourers who worked day and night during construction of the complex, he said, that at the peak of the project, over 20,000 labourers were working at the site. they are the real heroes of the project.