Page 148 - CW E-Magazine (24-10-2023)

Hydrocarbons

FUTURE TRENDS

Share of gas in India’s energy mix to reach 10.6%

by 2045: OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum LNG-powered vehicles
Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its lat- The OPEC report projected that the
est world oil outlook has projected that initiatives that encourage natural gas
the share of natural gas in India’s total vehicles may bring additional support.
energy mix will reach 10.6 percent by Currently, players such as Essar Group-
2045 compared to the government’s led GreenLine are offering LNG-
target of 15 percent by 2030. According powered trucks for long-range heavy-
to the Petroleum and Natural Gas haul logistics, which is more affordable
Regulatory Board (PNGRB), India’s ment of intermittent renewables, such and environment-friendly compared to
current share of gas in the energy mix as wind and solar. diesel.
stands at 5.78 percent.
Furthermore, the government sup- Assuming its strong long-term com-
OPEC’s projections are close to ports the gasifi cation of the country petitiveness, the report expects gas to
those made by UK’s BP in its last (City Gas Distribution), which aims to play a more important role in power
annual outlook. “The share of natural reduce the usage of traditional cooking generation. India’s gas-fi red installed
gas in total primary energy grows in all fuels in the residential sector, it added. power capacity is close to 18 gigawatts
scenarios, increasing from 5 percent in “India is active in the continued gasifi - (GW), which is in general operated at
2019 to 7-11 percent in 2050, supported cation of its energy system. Expanding a plant load factor (PLF), or capacity
by industry and heavy road transport city gas distribution (CGD) systems are utilisation, of less than 20 percent in the
demand,” the 2023 BP Energy Outlook set to increase gas usage in the residen- last 2-3 years due to high LNG prices.
report said. tial and commercial sectors. Gas can
help reduce the traditional use of bio- “Currently, India’s gas-powered
However, the OPEC report notes mass, as well as potentially substitute power plants are used sub-optimally
that natural gas is also expected to some liquefi ed petroleum gas (LPG) due to a lack of (domestic) gas supplies
expand strongly in the medium- and demand,” the report projected. The and have the potential to be ramped up
long-term in the world’s fourth largest country’s CGD sector, which at present in the future. In the Reference Case,
liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) importer. consumes around 35-million standard India’s gas demand more than triples
Increasing the share of gas in the mix cubic meters per day (mscmd) of gas, is in the outlook period, reaching levels
will help to reduce coal usage, curb expected to consume around 150-msc- of 4.1 million barrels of oil equivalent
CO emissions, and support the deploy- md by 2028. per day (mboe/d) in 2045,” it added.
2
RECOGNITION

MRPL wins Petroleum Ministry’s innovation award

Mangalore Refi nery and Petro- HPCL. It said the success in claiming other scientists representing heads
chemicals Ltd. (MRPL) has won the this award is based on a patent for an of institutions such as CSIR labs
‘Best Innovation in Refi nery’ award energy-effi cient hydrocarbon distilla- and IITs.
from the Union Ministry of Petroleum tion process. The proposal of the
and Natural Gas. MRPL’s research and development The award was presented to a
team was screened by the Centre team led by the Managing Director of
A press statement said MRPL has for Higher Technology, and the fi nal MRPL, Mr. Sanjay Varma, by Mr. H. S.
secured the award for 2022-23 for the evaluation was done by the Scien- Puri, Union Minister of Petroleum and
second consecutive year amid stiff tifi c Advisory Committee (SAC). The Natural Gas, at the Energy Technology
competition from IOC, BPCL, and SAC included Dr. Anil Kakodkar and Meet 2023 in New Delhi.

148 Chemical Weekly October 24, 2023

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