Indian Oil Plans to Set Up Green Hydrogen Fuel Retail Network

The playbook is part of the oil marketer's $30 billion investment plan to achieve net zero by 2046

- Rituraj Baruah

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), the country's largest oil-marketing company with over 37,500 petrol stations, is working on a new business plan to set up green hydrogen fuel dispensing pumps across the nation, chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said in an interview.

Sahney said that apart from captive consumption at its refineries, where Indian Oil would look at replacing grey hydrogen with green hydrogen, the company aims to eventually cater to the mobility demand in the country, thereby retailing green hydrogen fuel cells.

He believes that due to critical safety requirements for hydrogen, separate and enhanced safety norms would be necessary for green hydrogen stations. This would require oil marketing companies (OMCs) to establish dedicated infrastructure for retail sales of the fuel.

The playbook is part of Indian Oil's $30 billion investment plan to achieve net zero by 2046, and involves the refiner to meet its captive demand, followed by catering to mobility requirements and exports.

The plan being worked upon by the country's largest refiner's strategy group involves setting up these carbon emission-free fuel dispensing stations at new locations, and not at its current network points.

Green hydrogen is used as a clean fuel for vehicles, especially in fuel cell electric vehicles, as a zero-emission alternative to fossil fuels.

Without divulging further detail of its retail plans for green hydrogen, Sahney said: "Everything is on our strategy table."