Explanation:

HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd has announced that it would start up a bio-ethanol plant at its Bathinda refinery in the state of Punjab as part of efforts to reduce its carbon emissions.

The company has further pointed out that it is in the process of constructing 100,000 tonnes per annum ethanol plant based on agricultural inputs like waste food etc. The state of Punjab, especially the region would immensely benefit from the move as it is in sync with the state government’s efforts to reduce instances of stubble burning. In this regard, providing alternatives to farmers has been a challenge and in the absence of such avenues it becomes difficult to convince farmers to not take the easy route of burning the residue.

HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) is a joint venture between state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Mittal Energy Investments, a Lakshmi N Mittal Company. It is noteworthy here that HMEL owns and operates the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery of 11.3 MMTPA capacity at Bathinda, Punjab. HMEL’s wholly owned subsidiary, HPCL-Mittal Pipelines Limited (HMPL), owns and operates a Single Point Mooring, Crude Oil Terminal and 1017 km cross-country pipeline for transportation of the crude from Mundra, Gujarat, to the refinery at Bathinda.