India plans new mega-refinery

INDIA is planning to build a 1.2m bbl/d refinery that will match the world’s largest also situated in the burgeoning country.

Minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan confirmed discussions are underway with three state-run oil refiners – Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum plus engineering contractor Engineers India – to build the facility on the coast of Maharashtra state.

The refinery will be built in two phases, he tweeted. The first phase would process 800,000 bbl/d and could cost more than ?1trn (US$14.7bn).

The refinery would produce petrol, diesel, LPG and feedstock for plastic, chemicals and textile producers in Maharashtra.

India is already home to the world’s largest refinery – Reliance Industries’ 1.2m bbl/d Jamnagar refinery – in Gujarat state. With 18% of the world’s people but only 6% of energy demand, India’s consumption is set for a rapid rise, says the International Energy Agency. Factors such as more people moving to urban centres and buying cars will lift the country’s demand for energy more than six times from today by 2040, the agency projected last year.

Pradhan said his agency is working with the local government to identify a site for the new refinery, but did not give any indication for when work on the refinery might begin.