NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil company, plans to nearly double refining capacity to 150 million tonnes by 2030 to meet fast expanding energy needs of the country, its Chairman B Ashok said.The company has capacity at refineries to produce 80.7 million tonnes per annum of fuel currently. "IOC is self-sufficient in the refining segment, but keeping in view the rising demand for petroleum products in the short-term, we are aiming at a refining capacity of about 100-110 million tonnes per annum by the year 2022 and progressively scale it up to at least 150 million tonnes by the year 2030," he said.International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook projects 4 per cent CAGR growth in India's fuel demand to 348 million tonnes by 2030, from 184 million tonnes in 2015-16. BP projects demand to be 335 million tonnes while EIA has pegged it at 294 million tonnes, which translates into a CAGR of 3 per cent.India has a refining capacity of 232.06 million tonnes. "Our core business is liquid fuels, LPG, lubes, petrochemicals and natural gas. "We have 45,000-plus customer touch points as of now and this number will go up further in the next five years, especially in rural and virgin markets in order to secure the first mover advantage," he said.Also, a Strategy Cell has been set up, which is preparing roadmaps for future growth of IOC as an energy business amid multiple scenarios, he added.

Source: Economic Times September 04, 2016 09:11 UTC