Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily on Sunday said one of his goals was to reduce the dependence of the country on oil imports.
Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of the release of the Konkani translation of his Kannada novel Tembare here, Mr. Moily said local output of crude and shale gas needs to be increased.
“We are importing oil at $100 a barrel. The country cannot go on like this. We are preparing a road map to reduce this, wherein 35 to 40 per cent of the oil can be produced here. We have enough petroleum resources for this. With state-of-the-art technology, higher investments, there can be big changes in the production,” he said.
“One of the reasons [Barack] Obama was re-elected was because he promised to reduce the dependence of imports. We can also aim for this,” said Mr. Moily.
Among other considerations by the Ministry was the deregulation of diesel being demanded by the industry, and increase in the cap of LPG subsidy.
He denied that the decisions were being made keeping the elections in mind. On the allegation that Jaipal Reddy was replaced because of pressure from Reliance, Mr. Moily said the government would follow the contractual agreement signed by the company.
