IndianOil preparing new strategy for nuclear power: Chairman Sahney-OxBig News Network

India’s largest oil refiner and marketer is taking fresh look at nuclear diversification, Sahney said in an interview, though the company had earlier tied up with Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL) for the venture. He did not reveal plans for the technology partner.

India’s Bharat SMR (BSR) is being designed with a capacity of 200 MWe, while a smaller 55 MWe variant is also under development. However, Indian Oil did not participate in NPCIL’s recent bids to set up such reactors for captive use. Indian Oil’s large refineries consume as much power as produced by BSRs, Sahney said, prompting it to consider building them.

“We have not participated in NPCIL’s request for proposal (RFP) process, but we are looking into it in a renewed manner… It was 10 years back when we tied up with NPCIL. But now there is a renewed energy to it,” he said.

Indian Oil‘s focus on nuclear power comes at a time the government plans to set up 22 GW of nuclear power by 2032 and 100 GW by 2047, up from the current 8.7 GW.

State-run major NTPC Ltd set up a subsidiary called NTPC Parmanu Urja Nigam Ltd earlier this year. With the government planning to open up the space for private players, several conglomerates and renewable energy majors are keen on this space. Last month, Mint reported that companies including Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Greenko, Vedanta, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd, JSW Group and Hindalco Industries have responded to NPCIL’s RFP to set up two units of 220-Mwe pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) BSRs.

The Union budget for FY26 announced a ₹20,000-crore Nuclear Energy Mission for research and development of SMRs. The full budget for FY25 in July also proposed the government partnering with the private sector to develop SMRs, while the interim budget in February announced funding of ₹1 trillion for R&D in this space.

A report by SBICAPS in April had said that although nuclear energy provides high-quality, reliable power at low operational cost, historically, these advantages have been overshadowed by concerns over safety, capital cost, and fuel supply. However, surging demand from AI data centers and crypto, coupled with its unique low-carbon baseload capability apt for thermal plant replacement, has driven a resurgence of interest.

“This revival is most pronounced in China, with 30 GW of reactor capacity under development, and growing interest in India and Turkey, while Europe remains cautious,” it said, adding that given the current installed base of around 8 GW and only 7 GW of the 36 GW planned capacity currently under construction, significant acceleration is required.

Indian Oil is not interested in in acquiring Rosneft’s stake in Nayara Energy, Sahney said in response to a query.

“Its an open offer, it’s in the market… I am totally not interested; so, we have totally not inquired about it,” he said.

In March, The Economic Times reported that Russia’s state-owned energy major Nayara Energy, in which it acquired a 49.13% stake, is looking to exit the Indian venture, as due to sanctions, the Russian company has not been able to repatriate earnings from Nayara Energy in the past few years.

He also said that Indian Oil and the domestic oil and gas industry are now confident of navigating any oil supply crisis situation, after smoothly handling the volatility during Israel-Iran conflict last month. He added that as India has significantly diversified its oil imports from nearly 40 countries, state-run refineries including Indian Oil’s Panipat refinery are well-equipped to handle diverse crude barrels.

The refining capacity of the Indian Oil group stands at 80.75 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa), including 10.50 million tonne annual refining capacity of its subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd (CPCL). It is also undertaking the expansion of its Panipat refinery from 15 mmtpa to 25 mmtpa.