IndianOil’s Green Agenda

Green Agenda

As an active partner of the Global Compact Programme of the United Nations, IndianOil is fully Focused on “sustainable development.” As a dominant player, the Corporation recognises protection of environment as a core commitment of its business. As part of this commitment, all operating units and installations of IndianOil have a comprehensive safety, health & environment management system in place. The facilities are periodically reviewed and upgraded from time to time for better performance.

• All IndianOil refineries fully comply with the prescribed environmental standards and incorporate state-of-the-art effluent treatment technologies. Sustained efforts are being made to further improve the standards by introducing new state-of-the-art technologies further improve the existing standards and facilities.
• The environment management systems of all IndianOil refineries, pipeline Installations and major marketing installations/terminals are certified to ISO-14001 standards.
• All IndianOil refineries are accredited for Occupational Health&Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS-18001). All refineries are also rated under International Safety Rating System (ISRS). Panipat and Gujarat Refineries are rated “Level 9” in the scale of 1 to 10.
• All refineries have been provided with full-fledged effluent treatment plants consisting of physical, chemical, biological&tertiary treatment facilities. ‘Oilivorous-S’&‘Oilivorous-A’ technologies are being used for the treatment of oily sludge and acid tar respectively. The treated effluent is far superior to the stipulated MINAS quality and quantum standards. Treated effluent is being reused to the extent of 65-70% in the refinery units. Panipat Refinery continues to maintain zero discharge since commissioning in 1998.
• IndianOil refineries have adopted various measures for control of gaseous emissions. These include use of low-sulphur fuel oil, desulphurisation of refinery fuel gas, tall stacks for better dispersion of flue gases, advanced process control systems; and energy conservation measures to reduce fuel consumption.
• The sulphur dioxide emissions at IndianOil Refineries are well below the limits prescribed by the Ministry of Environment&Forests and State Pollution Control Boards. Ambient air monitoring stations with automatic continuous monitoring instruments are provided at all the refineries. In particular, Mathura Refinery has set up three ambient air quality-monitoring stations between the refinery and the city of Agra and a fourth one at Bharatpur. Utmost care is taken to minimise the impact of refinery operations on the air quality of the surrounding areas so that the ambient air quality remains within the stipulated limits prescribed for sensitive areas.
• Most IndianOil refineries have commissioned secondary processing units for improving fuel quality and reducing emissions. Some of the recent commissioning include Hydrogen unit and Diesel Hydrotreater unit at Mathura refinery and Motor Spirit Quality projects at Mathura and Haldia refineries. Sulphur recovery units have been installed at all the refineries.

Green Initiatives

• Low Sulphur (0.5%) Diesel was introduced in metros from April 1996.
• Extra-low Sulphur (0.25%) Diesel was introduced in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium area from September 1996, in Delhi from October 1997, and across the country from 1st January 2000.
• Diesel with 0.05% sulphur content was introduced in the metros in 2001.
• Unleaded Motor Sprit (petrol or Gasoline) was made available all over the country since February 1, 2000.
• Green fuels (petrol and diesel) conforming to BS-IV emission norms have already been introduced across the country since 1st April 2017.
• IndianOil is gearing up to ensure timely implementation of Government of India target of switchover to BS-VI fuels across the country by 1st April 2020.
• IndianOil’s Mathura Refinery has become the first refinery in the country to produce BS-VI compliant petrol and diesel and supply the same to the automobile manufacturers for their annual requirement.
• The R&D Centre of IndianOil is engaged in the formulations of eco-friendly biodegradable lube formulations.
• The Centre has been certified under ISO-14000:1996 for environment management systems.