KOCHI: The government will give the green signal to the BPCL-Kochi Refinery Ltd for setting up a new generation Ethanol plant capable of producing energy fuels from organic waste products, Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday. Speaking after inaugurating the golden jubilee celebration of the BPCL-KRL, he revealed that the project is estimated to cost Rs 500 crore. The plant will have the capacity to process agricultural waste and organic waste generated in the cities, he added.
The project is part of the efforts by the Union government to reduce dependency on import of energy fuels, he said. The government plans to bring down imports by at least 10 per cent when the country celebrates the 75th Independence Day. The minister said the consumption of petroleum products in the country is growing at faster pace. “India has become the third in terms of energy consumption. The average annual growth rate in energy consumption was around 11 per cent in the last financial year,” the minister said.
In 2015-16, the consumption of petroleum products was 183 million tonne. In the coming fiscal this is likely to touch 200 million tonne, he added. The minister said the work connected with integrated refinery expansion project of the BPCL-KRL is in the final stages. The work is expected to be completed in December and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate it, he added. The minister also said the Centre will help resolve the crisis facing the Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd (HOCL).
The government in association with the state government would speed up the process of laying the pipeline from Petronet LNG project in Kochi to Mangalore, he added. Mr Pradhan also released a Coffee Table Book on the 50 year history of the refinery. P.J. Kurien, deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha, state electricity minister Kadakampally Surendran, K.V. Thomas MP, senior officials of BPCL and several others attended the function marking the golden jubilee.
