THE ENERGY INTERVIEW
CREDIT: WIKIPEDIA
Expanding IndianOil’ s petrochemical footprint In light of encouraging energy security by diversifying energy sources, expanding its petrochemicals footprint is one of IndianOil’ s priorities moving forward – not only to benefit the Indian market but to ensure its integration with global supply chains and other markets worldwide.
This aligns with IndianOil’ s move away from conventional petrochemicals, like polypropylene, polyethylene and PVC.
These constitute around 70 % to 80 % of the total petrochemical basket, with specialty chemicals making up the other 20 %.
“ We are focusing more and more on the specialty chemicals market, which will be less in volume and more on markets,” Arvinder explains.“ We have the feed stocks from all our refineries
CREDIT: XXX but we will also be looking at imported feed stock like ethane and propane. We will put into our crackers and into our petrochemical fuel stocks.
“ The most important part in all this is that India ' s growth story in petrochemicals is phenomenal. Between 30 to 35 million tonnes of petrochemicals are being consumed in India. By 2040, it’ ll be 80 million tonnes – three times that of where we stand today. We have to stay ahead of the curve.”
Sustainability at IndianOil And on the subject of staying ahead of the curve, Arvinder is steadfast in that IndianOil will meet its net zero target of 2046, saying the company is tackling this in a“ very planned and methodical manner”.
One approach involves improving refinery efficiency, as refineries are responsible for more than 97 % of IndianOil’ s CO₂ emissions. As IndianOil improves refinery efficiencies over the next 15 years, Arvinder says all power leads will be connected to the grid and as the grid gets greener, so will all of IndianOil’ s output.
“ Everything moving forward is about the grid,” he notes,“ and that grid will continue to get greener.”
A lot of the innovation that enables this to happen occurs at IndianOil’ s R & D centre in Faridabad, a city just outside Delhi – including technologies in fields such as hydrogen and carbon capture that improve energy efficiency across all processes.
48 April 2025