Indian Oil and Gas Industry Analysis

As of December 1, 2019, the oil refining capacity of India stood at 238.60 million tonnes, making it the second largest refiner in Asia. Private companies own about 35.36 per cent of the total refining capacity.

Annual oil consumption stood at 4.69 million barrels per day (MBPD) and 54.20 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. By 2035, India’s energy demand is expected to double to 1,516 Mtoe by 2035 from 753.7 Mtoe in 2017. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), India is expected to account for almost one-third of the global growth in energy demand by 2040. Consumption of natural gas in India will increase by more than three-folds in next 10 years.

India had 4.5 thousand million barrels of proven oil reserves at the end of 2018 and produced 39.5 million tonnes in 2018. Production of crude oil reached 0.68 mbpd in 2018-19. India’s domestic crude oil production in November 2019 stood at 0.43 mbpd. Natural gas production during the same period stood at 32.06 bcm. Oil consumption has expanded at a CAGR of 5.24 per cent during 2007-18 to reach 5.16 mbpd by 2019. Natural Gas consumption is forecasted to increase at a CAGR of 4 per cent to 143.08 million tonnes (MT) by 2040 from 58.10 MT in 2018. LNG import for the month of July 2019 increased 9.1 per cent to 2.738 billion cubic metres (bcm)

Several initiatives have been taken by the Government of India including the launch of Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) and Coal Bed Methane (CBM) policy. It has allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in E&P projects/companies and 49 per cent in refining under the automatic route.

FDI inflows in India’s petroleum and natural gas sector stood at US$ 7.02 billion during April 2000–September 2019. The Government of India is planning to invest US$ 2.86 billion in the upstream oil and gas production to double the natural gas production to 60 bcm and drill more than 120 exploration wells by 2022. Further, rising demand for oil in India is expected to drive investments in refining capacity expansions and upstream production*.

As per Union Budget 2019-20, Indian Scheme “Kayakave Kailasa”, The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has enabled SC/ST entrepreneurs in providing Bulk LPG Transportation.  State run energy firms Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corp plan to spend US$ 20 billion on refinery expansions to add units, by 2022.

*As per Moody’s Investor Service