Aim of the road map and service is to demand for green hydrogen beyond captive use for oil refineries

In accordance to the officials, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has urged Public sector Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) to present a thorough strategy to advance their energy transition strategies by adopting green hydrogen on a larger scale.The ministry’s public-sector enterprises (PSUs) aim to produce more than 1 million tonnes (mt) of green hydrogen by 2030. Hydrogen, which can be turned into green hydrogen, is already used by refineries throughout the nation for internal consumption. The government intends to guarantee uptake through city gas distribution (CGD), where it will be mixed with natural gas and green hydrogen (GH2).

HENG, or hydrogen-enriched natural gas, is being tested by Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for use in natural gas pipelines. The two can theoretically be combined in any ratio, but in practise, HENG that ranges from 10 to 20 per cent hydrogen by volume represents the most promising short-term choice. To build its first green hydrogen generating plant at the Panipat refinery, IOCL issued a global tender call in August. The project is anticipated to be completed within the upcoming 30 months at a capacity of 10 KTA (thousands of tonnes per annum).

IOCL had previously invited proposals to build green hydrogen units at its refineries in Panipat and Mathura. The units were intended to be set up on a build-own-operate basis, with installed capacities of 2,000 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and 5,000 mtpa, respectively. The new units had a planned completion date of 28 months, and the operating duration might last up to 24 years.

The intentions, however, did not materialise, and the business has now chosen to refocus its efforts on the Panipat refinery, which has a 15 mtpa capacity and is its largest in India. For captive uses in secondary processing facilities, IOCL intends to combine the green hydrogen produced with the grey hydrogen produced during naptha or natural gas production.

To address its needs for captive hydrogen, Bharat Petroleum Corporation  is installing a 20-megawatt green hydrogen unit at its refinery in Bina, Madhya Pradesh.At its Visakhapatnam refinery in Andhra Pradesh, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is apparently building a 370 mtpa green hydrogen plant.Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had claimed in July that the PSUs had not limited their operations to those carried out just within India. Case in point, a consortium of HPCL and green energy provider ACME has submitted bids in response to green hydrogen/ammonia-related tenders in Germany and Oman.