India plans to double oil refining capacity in next five years

India reportedly intends to almost double its oil refining capacity over the coming five years, despite the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacting the country’s economy.

The latest move offers ‘a much more aggressive timeline than previously’, according to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reuters reported.

In June, Indian Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan said that the country’s oil refining capacity could jump to 450Mt-500Mt in ten years from the current level of around 250Mt.

However, addressing a petroleum university’s convocation, the news agency cited Modi as stating: “Work is being done to nearly double the country’s oil refining capacity in the next five years”.

The Indian Prime Minister also said that the country aims to increase the ‘share of natural gas in its energy-consumption mix’ by nearly four times.

Currently, the cleaner-burning fuel constitutes to nearly 6% of the energy consumed in India.

In September, India’s Gujarat Government approved a letter of intent (LoI) for the development of a CNG terminal with an investment of Rs19bn (approximately $260m) at the Bhavnagar port in the state.

In the same month, Dharmendra Pradhan reportedly said that 400 petrol pumps became operational in the state of Bihar.