Re-engineering refineries: India’s shift toward renewable-driven operations
Editor Manoj Sharma editor@refiningindia.com +91 989 9077 595 Managing Editor Rachel Storry
rachel.storry@emap.com tel +44 (0)7786 136440 Sub-Editor Lisa Harrison lisa.harrison@emap.com Graphics Peter Harper Business Development Director Paul Mason info@decarbonisationtechnology.com tel +44 844 5888 771 Managing Director Richard Watts richard.watts@emap.com
The 2026 Iran-US conflict has heavily impacted Middle Eastern oil infrastructure, creating the largest global energy security challenge in history. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted ~20% of global oil supply. The supply shock caused oil prices to rise significantly, with estimates indicating a
potential long-term, high-price environment. The conflict makes India’s energy supply chains vulnerable. While temporary fixes include increasing imports from alternate sources, such as Russia, West Africa, and North and Latin America, long-term resilience depends on accelerating sustainable refining. India’s refining sector is no longer a passive consumer of fossil energy; it is actively evolving into a testbed for advanced renewable energy integration. What distinguishes the current phase of transition is not just ambition, but the scale of real, on- ground implementations across major Public Sector (PSU) and Private refiners. These initiatives signal a structural shift from incremental efficiency improvements to deep decarbonisation pathways anchored in renewable energy. Indian oil refiners have launched a multi-pronged ‘Green Transition’ to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2040-2046. These initiatives focus on diversifying into green hydrogen, increasing biofuels blending, scaling renewable energy, and pioneering carbon capture technologies to decarbonise a traditionally hard-to-abate sector. At the forefront of this transformation is the large-scale deployment of green hydrogen within refinery operations. Hydrogen is vital for hydrocracking and desulphurisation, yet its conventional production via steam methane reforming is highly carbon-intensive. Indian refiners have now moved decisively toward renewable hydrogen substitution. Multiple pilot and demonstration plants for green hydrogen have already been commissioned by some Indian oil and gas companies. These are crucial for de-risking technologies such as electrolysers, storage systems, and renewable integration architectures before full- scale deployment. Projects are being developed on a long-term build-own-operate model and are designed to directly replace grey hydrogen used in refinery processes. Beyond hydrogen, refiners are advancing renewable-based fuel production pathways, particularly in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and biofuels. India reached its 20% ethanol blending target in 2025, five years ahead of schedule. As of April 2026,
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Cover Story Indian refineries are transitioning into integrated energy complexes
Refining India
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