NEWDELHI: Niti Aayog has sought allocation of state-run Oil India Ltd’s oilfields for converting stranded gas into Methanol to accelerate India’s shift towards its use as an alternative fuel, according to the government think tank’s primary member VK Saraswat.
Stranded gas is essentially the gas that is wasted or unused. Gas found in oil wells is generally called associated gas. Some flared gases from oil wells are stranded gases that are unusable. India has set a target of shifting towards 15% Methanol-blended fuel.
“We have written to Oil India to allocate at least five or six oilfields in the North-East region where stranded gas is available and we are now waiting for the allocation of oilfields. We have already done our homework with respect to the kind of technologies we are going to introduce in converting standard gas into Methanol,’’ said Saraswat.
“We are planning to go for a skid-mounted system, which will be transportable from one location to another and we are looking for a throughput of about 100 tonnes per day at least.”
According to the road transport and highways ministry, India is the world’s sixth largest petroleum consumer. The consumption is expected to double and India is projected to become the world’s third largest consumer by 2030. The government hopes to reduce India’s petroleum import bill by 10% by 2022.
Niti Aaayog has drawn out a roadmap to substitute 10% of crude oil imports by 2030 with the use of Methanol.
A Saraswat-led Niti Aayog panel on alternate fuels has decided to seek the government’s nod for converting two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers to run on methanol-blended fuel. A paper on this will be placed for the Union cabinet’s approval.
According to Saraswat, they have said that converting twowheelers and three-wheelers to comply with Bharat Stage VI emission norms will be very difficult and it also involves high costs. “Therefore, we have suggested that these vehicles can be switched to run on Methanol where you get the same kind of emissions and also it is more costeffective. We are already in talks with auto companies and our tests have been cleared by Automotive Research Association of India and standards for M15 fuel have also been issued.”
M15 is a mixture of 15% Methanol with petrol.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Tuesday pushed for enhanced alternative fuels penetration. It proposed making petrol-run two-wheelers and passenger vehicles compatible with 10% ethanol (E10) and 3% methanol (M3) blends by 2025.
“For gasoline-powered twowheelers and passenger vehicles, industry will endeavour to make vehicles material compatible with 10% ethanol (E10) and 3% methanol (M3) blends by 2025, and by 2030 industry could make specific vehicles compatible with 20% ethanol (E20) blended gasoline depending upon sustained availability of the fuels with separately labelled dispensing at fuel stations,” it said in a white paper.