Oil refineries in India

The hydrocarbons which are extracted from the sub-surface is in the form of a thick blackish-brown sticky goo like substance. It needs to be further distilled into usable products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, and LPG. This is generally done with the help of giant fractional distillation columns in refineries which are spread all across India.

What is a refinery?

• A petroleum refinery is a huge industrial complex which consists of multiple industrial facilities for the liquefaction, purification, and distillation of the heavier crude into its lighter components.
• A refinery is generally located near the source of crude oil i.e. either a producing field, a pipeline or a seaport.
• The refinery manufacturers usable crude oil products like petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF, kerosene, and asphalts from the crude oil. 

Refineries in India

• The current refinery capacity of India is 249.366 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum). India, while a net importer of crude oil, is a net exporter of finished refinery products. 
• There are currently 23 refineries (18 Government, 2 Joint ventures and 3 Private sector) refineries in India.
• The Reliance Industry’s giant refinery at Jamnagar is one of the world’s most advanced and largest refineries in the world.

Future plans

While there is a substantial push towards electric vehicles, the Indian government still needs to hike present refining capacity by 80% to fuel our future growth. Thus, the Government is planning new refineries in Bathinda (Punjab), Barmer (Rajasthan) and a new refinery in Maharastra.