India strengthens its oil arteries

Industry investing in significant pipeline infrastructure to further improve the efficiencies of its network and cut costs

The long-term role of oil in India’s domestic energy mix should not be understated. Huge imports of crude and the country’s vast geographical spread have made it imperative for the government and industry stakeholders to invest in significant pipeline infrastructure. With 10,941km of crude pipelines and an installed capacity of 153.1mt/yr, India has one of the largest pipeline infrastructure networks for crude oil transportation in the world. The capacity utilisation of crude oil pipelines stood at 68.1% in the 2023–24 financial year (FY), according to the government’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. In comparison to crude oil pipelines, product pipelines, inclusive of LPG pipelines, f