Oil India Ltd to invest Rs 25,000 crore in renewable energy by 2040

The Oil India Limited (OIL), a state-owned company, plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore in renewable energy to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

Ranjit Rath, chairman and managing director of Oil India Ltd (OIL), on Thursday said that the company will invest in green hydrogen, solar, geothermal energy, 2G ethanol plant, compressed biogas plants, and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), along with initiatives to eliminate flaring.

Out of the Rs 25,000 crore, the company will invest Rs 8,000 crore in setting up a 2G ethanol plant, according to a report in the Financial Express (FE).

Rath said, “Our subsidiary, Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), has already placed an order for replacing grey hydrogen with green hydrogen. We are targeting a 20-kilo tonne per annum capacity."

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As the government plans to raise the share of gas in India’s energy mix from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent, the company will reduce gas flaring by compressing and pushing them to city gas distributors (CGD) network.

The company plans to lay a 80-km gas pipeline from Arunachal Pradesh to Assam to bring gas to Duliajan in Assam, from where it will pass it into the northeast gas grid.

Rath said, “By the virtue of (the gas) coming to Duliajan, the gas would find its way to the northeast gas grid and national gas grid as well.”

The OIL is building a 620 mega watt (MW) solar capacity in partnership with Assam, and another 150 MW solar plant in association with Himachal Pradesh, according to the Financial Express report.

After registering highest ever oil and gas production at 3.18 million metric tonnes (MMT) and 3.18 billion cubic metres (BCM) in FY23, respectively, the company has set a target of achieving 4 MMT of crude oil and 5 BCM of natural gas by financial year 2024-25.

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Rath said that the company had a capex of "Rs 5,500 crore in FY23, and it has planned a capex of Rs 7,500 crore on standalone basis and Rs 14,000 crore on a consolidated basis due to expansion at NRL".