The time has come to act fast to replace, over a reasonable period of time, our dependence on imported crude oil. M. PERIASAMY Jatropha, a plant that can be used to produce bio-diesel, is cultivated on the Karunya University campus in Coimbatore. A file picture. THE global oil crisis is not likely to vanish overnight. It will, from the looks of it, be with us for a fairly long time. The strikes and unrest in Nigeria do not look as if they will be resolved soon, and production from that country will continue to be badly affected. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) seems to be firm in its decision not to increase oil production, and while the United States has been denouncing OPEC, even threatening to sue it for not increasing production, the U.S. itself has not been setting an example by pumping out more oil. Meanwhile, sadly, countries like India will literally be paying a very heavy price for this example of international intransigence and blatant self-interest. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said that the losses of Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) have crossed Rs.200,000 crore. As of now, the credit line available to them is nearing zero: Indian Oil Corporation will be able to import crude at the present prices only up to September, and Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are in an even worse situation as their credit lines will run out in June. In 2007-08, the net oil import bill was $63.52 billion, a huge increase from the 2006-07 bill, which was $45.05 billion. And remember, the price of crude oil has more than doubled since the last financial year. None of the remedial measures being considered at this time will be pleasant to the common man: letting petroleum find its own price level or jacking up its price by Rs.10 to Rs.15 a litre and that of diesel by Rs.5 or reducing import and excise duties on crude oil imports or appropriating a hefty amount out of the "windfall profit' made by the OMCs from last year's crude oil prices is not going to go down well with people when inflation is already virtually out of control, pushing towards 8 per cent and perhaps even higher. And even if some drastic steps are taken, the basic issue will not have been addressed. India imports 75 per cent of its crude oil requirement, and that figure is, from all accounts, going to go up, given the increase in demand for petroleum and diesel. There is no certainty that extra oils reserves will be located in the areas where the OMCs and other oil public sector undertakings (PSUs) are tied up in exploration with international companies. Our gas reserves are not enough to sustain the increasing demand, and no one can say when the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will actually be built, if at all it will be. What seems to be the only way out of this increasingly alarming crisis is for a concerted effort to be made to look for alternative sources of fuel. Efforts are being made to encourage the growth of plants that will yield biofuels, chief among them being the plant Jatropha curcas, which grows well on wasteland and needs little attention or water. It is seen as a good source of bio-diesel, and the government has identified 400,000 square kilometres of wasteland