Jaipur (Rajasthan)

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday that the prices of energy depend on a number of dynamic factors, and the government of India has taken various initiatives in its control like reduction in excise duties twice (once in November 2021 and May 2022) to keep prices under check.

He also said the government would ensure stable supplies of fuel at affordable prices, according to an official statement. He said in comparison to many countries in the world, petrol and diesel prices in India were much less when seen in the light of spiralling crude oil and gas prices in the world. The minister was speaking on the sidelines of GeoIndia 2022 in Jaipur.The minister cited statistics while for international gas indexes, the price increase had ranged from 140 per cent to 280 per cent, in India and through government efforts, it had been restricted it to just 70 per cent. "Even for oil, while global prices have increased by around 40 per cent during the last one year, India's fuel prices have increased by just 2 per cent," he added.

In the context of domestic energy demand, the minister said 25 per cent of the global growth in energy demand would come from India. He added that India was trying to meet a large part of its total energy demand from domestic sources and at the same time trying to diversify its crude oil sources. He also talked about rising share of ethanol blending in petrol where 10 per cent blending target has been achieved before the target date.

The official statement also mentioned that a section of the media had misreported on the issue of domestic oil production and price rise of petrol by Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on the sidelines of GeoIndia 2022 in Jaipur on October 14. It said these reports were not only mischievous but are also misleading and motivated.