India plans final refinery expansion as EV era looms

In what may be the last wave of grassroots refinery projects, the crude oil-refining capacity of state-run companies may go up by 500,000-600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in a little more than 10 years, according to industry executives and government officials.

- S DINAKAR

This comes even as New Delhi is struggling to strike a balance between rapidly adopting electric vehicles and bolstering energy security by taking recourse to affordable and more reliable transport fuels.

There are plans for three new refineries, which are in addition to the ongoing addition of around 800,000 bpd, around 16 per cent of the current capacity, according to the industry data.

The proposed projects—in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat—are still on the drawing-board, with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) trying to identify the right type of land, hard and strong with little need for expensive piling, for a refinery-cum-petrochemicals plant. Soft, soggy land can drive up the project cost, an industry official said.

Costs are more critical today than for projects planned earlier because the shelf life of transport fuels is on the wane as India projects Net Zero emission by 2070.