OIL to invest Rs 25,000 cr in clean energy for net zero emissions by 2040

State-owned Oil India Ltd plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore in clean energy projects to help achieve the net zero carbon emission goal by 2040, its chairman Ranjit Rath said on Saturday.

OIL's net zero plan includes a combination of cutting down the flaring of gas and commercialisation of stranded gas as well as setting up renewable electricity generation capacity, building green hydrogen plants and constructing biogas and ethanol plants.

The net zero plans will go alongside its target to raise crude oil and natural gas production to 9 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas by 2025-26 from 6.5 million tonnes produced in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, he told reporters here.

The company also plans to lay an 80-kilometer pipeline to bring natural gas from fields in Arunachal Pradesh to Assam to help replace polluting liquid fuels in transport as well as industries.

"Achieving a net zero target involves a bouquet of activities," he said.

It already has firmed up plans for 640 MW of solar projects in Assam and another 150 MW in Himachal Pradesh, he said.

OIL joins fellow state-owned firms who are investing billions of dollars to help India as a nation achieve net zero emission by 2070.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation's biggest oil firm, is targeting net zero by 2046 while oil and gas producer ONGC has announced Rs 2 lakh crore investment to achieve the same goal by 2038.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd too are targeting 2040 to achieve net zero carbon emissions from their operations while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) wants to do so by 2046.

Rath said OIL is drilling more wells and intensifying exploration in a bid to raise crude oil production to over 4 million tonnes and gas output to 5 billion cubic metres.

"Last year we drilled 61 wells and the year before that 45 wells. This year's drilling plan is for 75-plus wells," he said.

While drilling more wells will reverse the 12 per cent decline in production that has set in the mature fields, the company is also increasing exploration to tap newer reservoirs as well as using technology to increase output from existing fields.

On its subsidiary Numaligarh refinery in Assam, Rath said expansion of capacity, from current 3 million tonnes per annum to 9 million tonnes at an estimated cost of Rs 28,000 crore, is planned to be completed by December 2025.