India is likely to start the operations of 85 crude oil refinery projects, accounting for about 52% of the upcoming crude oil refinery projects in Asia between 2021 to 2025, driven by rising consumption of oil and economic growth, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Global Crude Oil Refinery Projects Outlook, 2021-2025’, reveals that out of the 85 projects, two projects are new-build and 83 represent the expansion of existing projects.
In India, 44 upcoming refinery projects are in the approval stage and likely to start operations between 2021 and 2025. Construction and feasibility are the other major project stages with 22 and 19 projects, respectively.
Bhargavi Gandham, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said: “India, being one of the leading consumers of petroleum products in the world, continues to add substantial refining capacity to meet the ever-growing demand. In July 2021, India approved 100% foreign direct investment in government-owned refineries to facilitate the privatization of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, one of the leading refiners in the country.”
The two new build projects that are expected to start operations by 2025 are Barmer and Nagapattinam II, each with a capacity of 180 thousand barrels per day (mbd). Among CDU expansion projects, Vadinar CDU expansion is one of the key projects with a refinery capacity of 515 mbd and costing of US$1,010m. The project is expected to start operations in 2024. Nayara Energy Ltd is the operator while Rosneft Oil Co and Trafigura Group Pte hold major stakes with 49.1% and 24.1% of equity, respectively.
The Panipat CDU expansion project stands second with a refinery capacity of 200 mbd and costing US$346m. Indian Oil Corp Ltd is the operator as well as 100% equity holder of this project which is expected to start operations in 2024.
