IOC drops plans for green hydrogen unit

The company says setting up a green hydrogen unit at Panipat is more economical. “At present, IOC is setting up a 7 KTA green hydrogen plant and associated facilities in Panipat, and there is no plan to set up such facilities in Mathura,” it said. This marks a departure from the oil refiner’s original plan.

The country’s largest refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has dropped plans for a green hydrogen unit at its Mathura facility, the company told Moneycontrol exclusively in an email response on Friday.

IOC operates an 8 MTPA capacity refinery in Mathura, Uttar Praesh, and a 15 MTPA refinery in Panipat, Haryana.

Indian Oil reports crude throughput of 72.4 MMT in FY23  Indian Oil reports crude throughput of 72.4 MMT in FY23

The initial plan was to set up a 5 KTA (40 MW) green hydrogen plant in Mathura and a 2 KTA (16 MW) plant in Panipat. IOC, in its latest reply to Moneycontrol, said: “Setting up a green hydrogen plant of 7 KTA in Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex is economical,” to a query on why Mathura was dropped from the list.

The company is one of the six public-sector refining companies planning to set up green hydrogen facilities. In addition to IOC’s planned 7KTA plant at Panipat, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) is adding a 10 KTA at Madhya Pradesh, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) a 7.3 KTA capacity at Andhra Pradesh, and Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) a 5 KTA plant at Assam.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) and Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) are planning 0.5 and 1 KTA plants in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, respectively.