India's Energy Push

AMID THE GLOBAL CLASH BETWEEN SAUDI - LED OPEC & US SHALE OIL PRODUCERS, INDIA IS CRAFTING A BALANCED STRATEGY TO MINIMISE THE ECONOMIC SHOCKS OF RISING OIL PRICES.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

HIS BRIEF IS CLEARLY SPELT OUT. Dinesh Kumar Sarraf, appointed Chairman of the beleaguered Petroleum Natural Gas Regulatory Board, or PNGRB, in December, has to debottleneck and ensure a ramp-up of the infrastructure required for gas transportation in the country. Sarraf is central to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s plans to reduce India's consumption of oil and scale-up the gas component in the energy basket – from the existing 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent over the next decade.

The attempt to empower PNGRB signals that Pradhan means business.

Along with Sarraf, the government appointed former director at Oil India Ltd. (OIL), S. Rath, and legal expert S.S. Chahar as its other members. Earlier, Sarraf ’s former colleague at ONGC, S.K. Garg, was alone on the board that was defunct for all practical purposes. Sarraf, who retired as CMD of ONGC recently, is the first non bureaucrat to head PNGRB and, being an insider, this is an extension of his previous job.

Just five years ago, gas was 11 per cent of the energy portfolio but a slump in domestic production came as a body blow. This time, the plan is well thought out. In the past, there were efforts to replace coal with gas but, since coal is domestically produced and its price is capped, there was hardly an economic rationale for the move. India also aims at taking renewables to 19 per cent of the energy mix, from a mere three per cent now, paring oil consumption for generating electricity.

India consumes oil largely for transportation, heating purposes in industries and generation of electricity off-grid –a large portion of this can shift to gas. The handicap was inadequate infrastructure and regulatory support. And that's why Sarraf has a pivotal role to play. Meanwhile, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has indicated the phasing out of the bulk of diesel locomotives in the next few years, replacing them with electric ones.