Comments
Nayara Energy, the second largest single site oil refinery in the country, is embarking on expansion and diversification programmes to meet the country’s rising energy needs and to enhance its presence in the petrochemical and alternate energy sectors.
The company, which has 6,300 retail outlets now, proposes to expand the network by over 50 per cent by 2030, according to Prasad K Panicker, Chairman and Head, Nayara Energy.
Prasad K Panicker, Chairman and Head, Nayara Energy
.
“We are expanding our footprint across the country and most of these outlets will be on franchise models bringing in agility and speed to launch the outlets. To support our retail operations, we have operationalized company owned depots in Warda in Maharashtra and Pali in Rajasthan”, he told businessline.
Nayara Energy, which operates a 20-million-capacity oil refinery, is going ahead with its plan to commission a polypropylene unit at Vadinar, Gujarat. “We expect that the plant will be commissioned in H1 CY24 with a total investment of $750 million”, Panicker said.
At the same time, the company is also exploring various initiatives to make the network future ready. This includes non-fuel retail opportunities, and alternate fuels including solar installations, green hydrogen and EV charging points. Multiple Non-Fuel Retail (NFR) opportunities are identified under food, auto services and other services categories. A pilot programme is in progress to test these before mass rollout of NFR across the network, he added.
“Our strategic vision is to diversify our product portfolio and seize opportunities in the high growth petrochemical industry while also catering to domestic energy needs. We remain open to exploring future expansion opportunities that align with our long-term goals and market dynamics”.
Responding to a question, he said the company has so far not experienced any disruption in crude supply from the various geopolitical and other macroeconomic developments over the last couple of years but is closely monitoring these developments and is confident of navigating any challenges that may arise in terms of crude supply.
“We are a complex coastal refinery and continually optimize our crude diet based on economics, diversity and product requirement”, he said.
On the declining export volumes, he said the reduction is because of the rise in the country’s fuel demand, which the company caters to.
As a major downstream player Nayara Energy is delivering approximately eight per cent of India’s refining output, Panicker said, adding that the large-scale investment under evaluation includes expansion of existing refining capacity and setting up of new petrochemical units including an integrated expansion. The key ongoing projects for improving product availability include revamping the existing VGO (Vacuum Gas Oil) MHC (Mild Hydrocracking) unit, which should help in incremental supplies of High Speed Diesel (HSD).
However, Panicker is not so concerned about the trend of rapid shift to hybrid vehicles, specifically to EVs, as the per capita vehicle penetration and fuel consumption is still among the lowest in India and reckons that an imminent demand growth will happen when the country migrates towards a developed economy.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.