India to contribute 15% of Asia’s crude oil refining capacity in 2023, says GlobalData

India is the next largest contributor of Asia’s crude oil refining capacity, after China. The country is expected to contribute 15% of the Asia’s crude oil refining capacity in 2023, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The total refining capacity of India in 2018 was 5,010 million barrels per day (mbd), which is 15% of Asia's total refining capacity in 2018. The company’s report: 'India Crude Oil Refinery Outlook to 2023' reveals that the country’s total refining capacity is set to grow at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 5.3% to 6,525 mbd in 2023. India’s planned crude oil refining capacity is also expected to increase to 580 mbd in 2023.

Soorya Tejomoortula, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “India’s crude oil refining capacity is growing rapidly to meet burgeoning demand for petroleum products. The booming automobile and aviation sectors, fast urbanization and growing use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking are the major drivers for refined products in the country.”

GlobalData also forecasts that the country’s total crude distillation unit capacity, coking capacity, catalytic cracker capacity and the hydrocracking capacity is expected to increase, during the outlook period 2018–2023. India’s total crude distillation unit capacity would increase from 5,010 mbd in 2018 to 6,525 mbd in 2023. The total coking capacity is expected to slightly increase from 1,035 mbd to 1,147 mbd over the same period. India’s total catalytic cracker unit capacity is expected to increase from 991 mbd in 2018 to 1,210 mbd in 2023. The hydrocracking unit capacity of the country is set to increase from 607 mbd to 1,064 mbd during the outlook period.

Tejomoortula concludes: “India has a total of 23 active crude oil refineries, of which, Jamnagar II, Jamnagar I and Vadinar are the major active refineries with total refining capacities of 704 mbd, 660 mbd and 405 mbd, respectively, in 2023. Jamnagar III is the only announced refinery and Barmer is the only planned refinery in India, which are expected to start operations in 2023 and 2022, respectively. The crude oil refining capacities of Jamnagar III and Barmer refineries are 400 mbd and 180 mbd, respectively.”