Grow the fuel, not import it

Tarun Kapoor, an adviser in India's Prime Minister's Office, told the India Sugar and Bio-Energy Conference that expanding biofuels is now an energy security question as crude climbs.

“The future of biofuels is about maximizing value from every available resource”

Use the capacity already built

Kapoor's pitch is less about new plants and more about demand. Ethanol, compressed biogas and new uses across transport, industry and power should soak up capacity India has already created.

“we must expand the market and fully utilize the capacity we have created”

Half its crude came from one region

India is the world's third-largest crude importer, and before the war it leaned on the Middle East for close to half its barrels. Replacement supply costs more.

An 85% ethanol blend

In June, India launched a fuel with an 85% ethanol component under its flex fuel mobility program. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri framed it as import relief plus a boost for rural ethanol demand.

“Flex Fuel Vehicles offer India a practical solution to reduce crude oil imports, strengthen the rural economy”

Brent back at $100

India's average crude import price passed $100 a barrel last week, days before Brent itself hit $100 on Wednesday for the first time since July. India's basket blends Dated Brent with Oman and Dubai sour grades.

The bill, not the barrels

India paid 60% more for crude in the April-June quarter than a year earlier, even on slightly lower volumes. July's bill ran 41% above last year as Strait of Hormuz shipping risk kept flows thin.