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Another worrying news is coming to the fore for the general public troubled by the rising prices of petrol and diesel in the country. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) HR Director Raj Kumar Dubey has indicated that oil prices may increase further in the coming days. He has clearly said that if the current global energy crisis continues like this, then it may be very difficult to stop the increase in fuel prices in the retail market. In view of the continuous fluctuations in the crude oil market, he has also put three big options before the policy makers.

Only these three paths are left for oil companies

According to Raj Kumar Dubey, now only two or three ways are left open to deal with the current situation. The first option is to directly increase oil prices at petrol pumps to cover the costs. The second option is that the petroleum companies themselves should bear the burden of this increased loss, due to which their losses will continue to increase. Apart from this, while mentioning the third option, he said that the government itself should come forward and release a special fund to compensate for the huge losses of the oil companies.

The increase of 20% to 50% in oil prices in the global market was initially considered to be temporary. But looking at the way the international situation is changing, it seems that this trend is going to continue for a long time. Pointing to the huge damage caused to the energy infrastructure, he said that it will take a long time to repair it. Therefore, given the current situation, if the situation does not improve, another increase in prices is certain. However, he did not clarify by how much the prices would increase, but it is certain that the increase will happen if the crisis continues. The only thing of relief is that despite geo-political tension, due to India’s diplomatic efforts and diversifying the sources of supply, the country has so far been safe from major shocks.

Big steps are being taken to strengthen the supply chain

There has been a huge shortage in the market due to the sudden stoppage of supply of more than 2 million barrels of oil in the Strait of Hormuz. Dubey says that this huge shortage can be met only by diversifying the source of supply i.e. by purchasing oil from different places. Taking steps in this direction, BPCL and other Indian energy companies have significantly expanded their supply network.

Earlier, India used to have only 20 main centers of oil supply, but now their number has been increased to 40, in which Russia has also been included. Because of these new sources from different countries, India is getting adequate security. Another surprising thing is that after the start of the war across the world, fuel consumption in India has increased instead of decreasing, yet the country has been completely successful in maintaining the supply smoothly without any shortage.

India will move rapidly towards green energy amid crisis

One positive aspect of this global energy crisis is that it is expected to accelerate the pace of progress towards green energy in India. With more than 200 GW of solar energy capacity installed in the country, this entire process will gain further momentum. In view of the economic difficulties arising due to huge foreign exchange expenditure on oil imports, it is believed that India will now move very rapidly towards green energy options.

Rajkumar Dubey also emphasized on the big goal of the Prime Minister, under which the share of natural gas in the total energy mix has to be increased from the current 7-8% to 15%. Along with this, Compressed Biogas (CBG) is also being promoted on a large scale. He described the scheme of blending 20% ​​ethanol in petrol as a very revolutionary and active step of the government. He said that if this step had not been taken, there could have been more than 20% shortage of petrol in the country, which would have had a direct and very bad impact on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.