MUMBAI: India plans to raise oil refining capacity by 77 per cent to 439 million tonnes by 2030 to meet the fuel demand which is likely to more than double in the coming decades, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. The expansion would be led by Reliance Industries and Russias Rosneft-controlled Essar Oil, while the public sector oil companies together build a new 60 million tonnes (MT) a year refinery on the west coast. India currently as a capacity to turn 247.6 MT of crude oil into fuel annually. This is slated to rise to 414.35 MT by 2025 and to 438.65 MT by 2030, Pradhan said referring to a report of the Working Group on Enhancing Refining Capacity.
The refining capacity exceeded the fuel demand of 193.74 MT in 2016-17, but the demand is likely to rise to 335 MT by 2030 and 472 MT by 2040.
International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast that Indias fuel demand will reach 458 MT by 2040. As the worlds third-biggest oil consumer, India imports 80 per cent of its energy requirements and is planning ahead to cater to the rise in demand.
