Projects covering Indian Oil, BPCL, HPCL and Numaligarh will replace fossil-based hydrogen in refinery operations as the National Green Hydrogen Mission begins creating large-scale industrial demand

• Indian state refiners have awarded or contracted around 30,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen supply across four refinery projects.
• The programme covers Indian Oil’s Panipat refinery, BPCL’s Bina facility, HPCL’s Visakhapatnam refinery and Numaligarh Refinery in Assam, creating long-term demand for renewable hydrogen.

 

NEW DELHI  -- India’s green hydrogen strategy is beginning to move from production targets into firm industrial demand, with state-owned refiners now securing around 30,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen supply annually.

 

Under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, 20,000 tonnes per year of production and supply capacity was initially awarded for Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. A further 10,000-tonne project at Numaligarh Refinery subsequently moved from price discovery into a supply contract.

 

The four projects comprise:

• Indian Oil, Panipat: 10,000 tonnes/year
• BPCL, Bina: 5,000 tonnes/year
• HPCL, Visakhapatnam: 5,000 tonnes/year
• Numaligarh Refinery, Assam: 10,000 tonnes/year.

 

Refineries Become Anchor Customers

Hydrogen is already widely used in oil refining for processes including hydrotreating and sulphur removal, but most of it is currently produced from fossil fuels.

 

The new projects are designed to substitute part of that existing grey-hydrogen demand with renewable hydrogen rather than create an entirely new end-use market.

 

That distinction makes refineries particularly important for India’s hydrogen strategy: developers have identifiable customers willing to sign long-term supply agreements, reducing one of the biggest commercial risks facing new electrolyser projects.

 

India’s SIGHT Mode 2B programme specifically requires oil and gas companies to aggregate hydrogen demand and competitively procure production and supply at the lowest cost.

 

Panipat Leads With 10,000-Tonne L&T Project

Indian Oil selected L&T Energy GreenTech to develop and operate a 10,000-tonne-per-year green hydrogen plant at its Panipat Refinery.

 

The winning levelised hydrogen price was ₹397/kg [about US$4.67/kg at the award-time exchange rate], including GST. Indian Oil says the project will replace fossil-derived hydrogen used inside the refinery.

 

The facility is being developed under a build-own-operate model, with L&T producing the hydrogen and supplying it to Indian Oil rather than Indian Oil owning the complete production plant itself.

 

Numaligarh Pushes Price Down to ₹279/kg

The strongest evidence of falling costs came from Numaligarh Refinery’s 10,000-tonne annual tender.

 

NeuEN Green Energy — a 50:50 joint venture between BPCL and Sembcorp — secured the contract at ₹279/kg [about US$3.08/kg at the time of the bid], the lowest green hydrogen supply price reported in India so far. Commercial operation is expected in 2028.

 

The plant will be built at the Numaligarh refinery in Assam and supply hydrogen directly to refinery operations.

 

That price is substantially below Indian Oil’s earlier Panipat award, showing how quickly competitive bidding, renewable-power costs and project structures are changing India’s hydrogen economics.

 

HPCL Signs 25-Year Vizag Agreement

HPCL has meanwhile signed a Green Hydrogen Purchase Agreement with Ocior Green Fuels covering 5,000 tonnes per year at its Visakhapatnam refinery.

 

The project will operate under a 25-year build-own-operate agreement and is scheduled to begin commercial supply by July 31, 2028. Ocior says the total contracted supply over the agreement is 125 million kilograms of green hydrogen.