Indian Oil Companies Organize to Buy Biodiesel from Entrepreneurs

17 August 2005

IANS. State-owned oil marketing companies in India will set up 20 depots across the country to buy biodiesel from entrepreneurs for blending with diesel.

To ensure quality procurement the companies—Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum—will set up laboratories alongside the collection depots to test the quality of biodiesel being supplied.

iesel use represents more than 40% percent of India’s annual consumption of about 120 million tonnes of crude oil, with more than 70% of it being imported.

Indian President A.P.J Abdul Kalam recently made a major speech calling for energy independence by 2030 to be the country’s “first and highest priority.” Biodiesel from jatropha plays a major role in that plan. (Earlier post.)

Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi made the announcement during the launch of a Biodiesel Credit Bank by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA).

Under the credit bank, different activities being pursued in the country for propagating, promoting and development of biofuels will be given credit points based on the activity in the supply chain starting from identification of land to the end use of bio-fuels.

Points will be credited to the credit bank account of individuals and organizations maintained at the National Biofuel Cent in Delhi. The credit points will continue to accumulate based on the information supplied (with supporting documents) by individuals and organization on completion of a specific task by them.

Based on the credit point accumulated by individuals and organizations, PCRA will give Annual awards for the exemplary work done by individuals and organization. PCRA is also planning to develop a mechanism to give incentives to various stakeholders working in the field of bio-fuel promotion and propagation.

The credit bank will also serve as a clearinghouse for information—from people engaged in the cultivation of non-edible oil seeds to those engaged in collection and processing of biodiesel and the desired quality of biodiesel, according to Tripathi.

Resources:

• PCRA Biodiesel Credit Bank