Oil Refineries in India by Dr. Gaurav Garg
Introduction
The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is concerned
with exploration and production of Oil & Natural Gas,
refining, distribution and marketing, import, export
and conservation of petroleum products.
The Government of India has adopted several policies
to fulfil the increasing demand. The government has
allowed 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
in many segments of the sector, including natural gas,
petroleum products, and refineries, among others.
India imports around 85% of Oil. India mainly imports
Oil from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, USA, Nigeria, etc.
What are the different oil and gas sectors?
What is upstream? - Upstream is E&P (exploration and production). This involves the search for underwater and
underground natural gas fields or crude oil fields and the drilling of exploration wells and drilling into established
wells to recover oil and gas. (ONGC is an example of a company with upstream work).
What is midstream? - Midstream entails the transportation, storage, and processing of oil and gas. Once resources
are recovered, it has to be transported to a refinery, which is often in a completely different geographic region
compared to the oil and gas reserves. Transportation can include anything from tanker ships to pipelines and
trucking fleets.
What is downstream? - Downstream refers to the filtering of the raw materials obtained during the upstream phase.
This means refining crude oil and purifying natural gas. The marketing and commercial distribution of these
products to consumers and end users in a number of forms including natural gas, diesel oil, petrol, gasoline,
lubricants, kerosene, jet fuel, asphalt, heating oil, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) as well as a number of other types
of petrochemicals. (Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are the examples of companies with downstream
work).
OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad,
Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
They were to become the Founder Members of the Organization. These countries were later
joined by Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967),
Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973), Gabon (1975), Angola (2007), Equatorial
Guinea (2017) and Congo (2018).
Ecuador suspended its membership in December 1992, rejoined OPEC
in October 2007, but decided to withdraw its membership of OPEC
effective 1 January 2020.
Indonesia suspended its membership in January 2009, reactivated it
again in January 2016, but decided to suspend its membership once
more at the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference on 30 November
2016.
Gabon terminated its membership in January 1995. However, it
rejoined the Organization in July 2016. Qatar terminated its membership on 1 January 2019.
This means that, currently, the Organization has a total of 13 Member Countries.
OPEC Headquarters - Vienna, Austria, Membership 13 states.
It is not necessary to become a member of OPEC and then only that country will sell Oil. USA and Russia also
export Oil but they are not part of OPEC.
OPEC Countries → Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Republic of the
Congo, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Venezuela.
Public Sector Undertakings
1. Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited Bharat
2. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
3. Biecco Lawrie Co. Limited (closed operations in 2018).
4. Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited
5. Engineers India Limited
6. Gas Authority of India Limited
7. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
8. Indian Oil Corporation Limited
9. Numaligarh Refinery Limited
10. Oil India Limited
11. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited
Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited
Founded - Calcutta, British India (1867).
Headquarters - Kolkata, India.
It is a Mini-Ratna-I Public Sector Enterprise, under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas of
India.
It has six Strategic Business Units – Industrial Packaging, Greases & Lubricants, Leather
Chemicals, Travel & Vacations, Logistics and Refinery & Oil Field Services.
Mainly work of midstream.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Founded – 1952, Headquarters – Mumbai.
The Corporation operates two large refineries of the country located in Kochi and Mumbai.
The company is India's 2nd largest downstream oil company.
Biecco Lawrie Co. Limited
It is a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (PSU) of the
Government of India and was established in 1919 as British India Electric Construction Company Limited.
BLL manufactures medium-voltage switchgears and have separate turnkey project and Electrical Repair division
Headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, Shut down in 2018.
Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL)
CPCL has two refineries with a combined refining capacity of 11.5 million tonnes per year.
The Manali Refinery in Chennai has a capacity of 10.5 million tonnes per year and is one of the
most complex refineries in India with fuel, lube, wax and petrochemical feedstocks production
facilities.
CPCL's second refinery is Nagapattinam Refinery located at Cauvery basin at Nagapattinam in
Panagudi.
Founded - November 18, 1965. Headquarters - Chennai, India.
Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL)
Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) is the MAHARATNA Government of India undertaking
company.
Gail is the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India.
HQ – New Delhi. Founded - August 1984.
It has the following business segments: natural gas, liquid hydrocarbon, liquefied petroleum gas transmission,
petrochemical, city gas distribution, exploration and production, GAILTEL and electricity generation.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is a Maharatna Indian oil and natural gas
company.
It has about 25% market-share in India among public-sector companies (PSUs) and a strong
marketing infrastructure.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), also the second promoter of the company (first
promotor is The President of India), owns 51.11% shares in HPCL and others are distributed
amongst financial institutes, public and other investors.
HQ – Mumbai. Founded - 1974.
Indian Oil Corporation
It is the largest commercial oil company in the country
It is India's largest downstream oil company, with a workforce of more than 33,000 employees
Indian Oil's business interests overlap the entire hydrocarbon value-chain, including refining,
pipeline transportation, marketing of petroleum products, exploration and production of crude oil,
natural gas and petrochemicals.
HQ – New Delhi. Founded - 1959.
It is mainly a downstream company. It is a Maharatna Company
Numaligarh Refinery Limited
The Numaligarh Refinery is located at Morangi, Golaghat district, Assam in
India is a refinery owned by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a joint venture
between Bharat Petroleum (61.65%), Oil India (26%) and Govt of Assam
(12.35%).
It is a mini-ratna PSU. It has a capacity of 9 million metric tonnes per year.
HQ – Golaghat district, Assam. Founded - 1999.
Oil India Limited
On February 18, 1959, Oil India Private Limited was incorporated to expand and develop the
newly discovered oil fields of Naharkatia and Moran in the Indian North East.
In 1961, it became a joint venture company between the Indian Government and Burmah Oil
Company Limited, UK. In 1981, OIL became a wholly-owned Government of India enterprise.
Today, OIL is a premier Indian National Oil Company engaged in the business of exploration,
development and production of crude oil and natural gas, transportation of crude oil and
production of LPG.
OIL also provides various E&P related services and holds 26% equity in Numaligarh Refinery Limited.
It is a Navratna Company, and it's main work is upstream.
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)
It is a Maharatna Company and Upstream Company.
HQ – New Delhi, Founded – 1956
ONGC is the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in the country.
It produces around 70% of India's crude oil and more than 80% of its natural gas.
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL)
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) is an Indian company responsible for
maintaining the country's strategic petroleum reserves. ISPRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of
the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB), which functions under the administrative control
of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Strategic petroleum reserves
1. Mangalore (Karnataka).
2. Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
3. Padur (Udupi, Karnataka).
4. Chandikhole - Odisha.
These petroleum reserves are made to store the Oil incase of any emergency and if India is unable to import Oil.
Currently, Mangalore, Visakhapatnam and Padur Reserves are fully working
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