Panel begins work on preparing blueprint for refinery exports

An expert panel has begun work on drafting a blueprint for raising India´s oil refining capacity by 2040 with a view to not just meet demands of the fast expanding economy, but also to capture the export market. The 12-member Working Group for preparing an Approach Paper for enhancing refining capacity by 2040 held its first meeting on June 27, officials said. The panel began work by asking public and private sector refiners to present their plans for capacity expansion and asked for domestic demand assessments to be made. The panel is headed by the Additional Secretary in the Oil Ministry and includes directors of refineries at Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). It would also consist of representatives of private sector Reliance Industries and Essar Oil besides managing directors of Numaligarh Refineries Ltd, Mangalore Refineries Ltd and Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL), officials said. India has a refining capacity of 232.066 million tonne, which exceeded the demand of 183.5 million tonne in the 2015-16 fiscal. According to International Energy Agency (EA), this demand is forecast to reach 458 million tonne by 2040. Considering a modest fuel demand growth of 4 per cent, the present capacity will be insufficient in the next few years.