India’s Petroleum Refineries on the Carbon Radar (CCTS Draft 2025)

“Refining crude is messy business—both for your white shirt and the planet.”

India’s 21 operational crude-oil refineries churn out more than 250 million tonnes of product a year and roughly 60 million tonnes of CO₂e while they’re at it.

Now, under the draft Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) 2023, each site has been handed a Greenhouse-gas Emission Intensity (GEI) target for 2025-26 and 2026-27. Miss the number and the owner must buy credits—hit it early and they can sell the surplus.

Below you’ll find:

-Five snack-size observations (so you don’t drown in data).

-A ranked table of every refinery—baseline intensity plus both targets.

-A plain-English explainer on what those numbers even mean.

-Quick ideas on where credits might come from (spoiler: bio-pellets, flare-gas recovery, and a little last-mile magic from Anaxee).

Feel free to skim straight to the table; the story will be waiting when you scroll back up.

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1. Five Things That Jump Out

1. Intensity swings are wild
   Reliance’s SEZ Jamnagar sits at 4.74 tCO₂e per barrel (already decent by global standards) while IOCL’s ageing Guwahati unit hovers near 7.77 t. That’s a 64 % spread—proof that age and fuel mix still matter.

2. BPCL’s Bina outlier
   Land-locked and pipeline-fed, Bina is India’s youngest BPCL plant yet sports the highest energy factor in the BPCL stable. Expect an aggressive heat-integration retrofit or a credit-buying spree.

3. Paradip proves new ≠ perfect
   IOCL Paradip was designed as a showcase, but at 5.38 t it still needs to cut almost 4 % in three years. Easy on paper, painful if crude slate swings heavier.

4. Guwahati’s uphill climb
   To drop nearly 10 % intensity, the 1962-era unit must either flip from furnace oil to natural gas or offset externally. Betting man’s guess: they’ll lean on credits.

5. A new market for every percent
   Each decimal point above target converts directly into fresh demand for credits. Renewable developers and agro-offset suppliers—time to shine.

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2 Rank-wise List of Every Refinery

Note on units: The official schedule expresses intensity as tCO₂e per thousand barrels of throughput. For simplicity we quote the raw numbers; ranking is by baseline intensity, highest to lowest, because the dirtiest plants are where action (and credits) will concentrate first.

(Source: Draft CCTS refinery schedule, June 2025)

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3 What on Earth Is GEI?

Think of GEI (Greenhouse-gas Emission Intensity) as grams of guilt per barrel. It’s the CO₂e a refinery emits—fuel combustion, flaring, power imports—divided by every thousand barrels processed.

-Why thousand barrels (MBBL)? Industry convention. Easy to benchmark against global peers.

-Why two targets? The scheme sets a halfway target (FY 25-26) and a sharper one (FY 26-27). Plants must stay at or below both.

-What if they miss? Buy carbon credits from the voluntary pool, or pay double the shortfall as a fine. Regulators haven’t priced the fine yet, but word on the street is “painful”.

If you’re a refinery planner, the calculation is simple math; if you’re a sustainability manager, GEI is your new KPI tattooed on the quarterly board deck.

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4 Who’s on Track and Who’s Not?

(Bookmark this table; it becomes your prospect list if you trade credits.)

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5 How Will They Hit the Numbers?

1. Fuel Switch – Furnace oil → natural gas or hydrogen-rich off-gas.

2. Heat Integration – Re-boiler pinch projects trim 3–5 % energy.

3. Flare Gas Recovery – Already proven at Jamnagar; could slash 0.1 GEI.

4. Bio-Pellet Co-firing – Easy 1–2 % cut, but supply chain shaky.

5. External Offsets – Agroforestry, biochar, or improved cook-stove credits—exactly the field projects Anaxee audits with its 50 000 Digital Runners.

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6 Where Do Carbon Credits Come In?

Picture this: IOCL Haldia overshoots by 200 000 tCO₂e in 2026-27. They can:

-Buy solar-park credits from Rajasthan.

-Fund a rice-husk briquette switch for east-India textile mills.

-Partner with a biochar producer in Assam and claim a share.

Each path needs MRV evidence—photos, farmer affidavits, GPS tags—often across dozens of villages. That’s where Anaxee’s last-mile network wipes weeks off your audit schedule.

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7 FAQ (plain talk)

Q: Are these numbers final?
A: Nope, the Gazette called them “draft for stakeholder comments.” Expect minor tweaks but the order of magnitude stands.

Q: Why is Jamnagar listed twice?
A: Reliance runs two legal entities: the older DTA (Domestic Tariff Area) and a newer SEZ (Special Economic Zone). Each files separately.

Q: Is 4.0 tCO₂e/MBBL good?
A: On par with top-quartile US Gulf Coast refineries. Anything above 6 is “fix-it-or-offset” territory.

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8 Final Word

Cutting refinery CO₂ isn’t a one-and-done project- it’s a relay race of fuel switches, pinch-studies, and offset deals. Whether you’re an EPC firm chasing revamp contracts, or a sustainability head scrambling for credits, remember: proof beats promises. Anaxee’s army of Digital Runners can collect that proof across 11 000 pin codes- so you only fly in for the board photo-op.
▶️ Reach out to us at sales@anaxee.com