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Petroleum, natural gas and electricity

Mineral and energy resources of India · Part 3 / 3 · Fact-checked on 8 November 2026 · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

How petroleum forms and where India finds it; natural gas, pipelines, LNG, coal-bed methane and shale gas; refineries and the strategic petroleum reserves; why thermal, hydro and nuclear stations stand where they do; the growth of solar and wind power and India's clean-energy targets; and the conservation of minerals and energy.

Part 2 ended with coal, the fuel behind most of India's electricity. This final part follows the rest of the energy chain. It starts with petroleum and natural gas, the fuels India is shortest of: how they form, where India finds them, how gas travels across the country, and how crude oil is refined and stockpiled for emergencies. It then turns to electricity and asks why thermal, hydro and nuclear stations stand where they do, and how solar and wind power have changed the picture in the last fifteen years. It ends with the conservation of minerals and energy.

Petroleum is a product of sedimentary rocks. Tiny plants and animals of ancient seas settled into the mud of the sea floor and were buried deep, where heat and pressure, over millions of years, slowly turned them into crude oil and gas. Being light, these fluids creep upward through porous rock such as sandstone until a layer they cannot pass, such as shale or clay, stops them. Oil therefore gathers in traps: the crest of an upfold (an anticline), a block sealed off by a fault, or the side of a salt dome. In India these rocks are mostly Tertiary, so oil turns up in Assam, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the coastal and offshore basins, not in the ancient Peninsular plateau. Exploration is led by two public-sector companies, ONGC (formed as a commission in 1956) and Oil India Ltd. Since 2016, blocks have been offered under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, which replaced the New Exploration Licensing Policy of 1999 and lets companies pick areas through open acreage bidding.

India's oil story began in Assam. Oil was struck at Digboi in 1889, and Naharkatiya and Moran in the upper Brahmaputra valley were added in the 1950s. Gujarat came next, with Ankleshwar, Kalol and the fields around the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay). The turning point came in 1974, when ONGC found oil at Mumbai High, off the Mumbai coast; output began in 1976 and it has long been India's largest oil-producing field. Later discoveries opened the Barmer basin of Rajasthan, where the Mangala field was found in 2004, and the Krishna–Godavari and Cauvery basins on the east coast. Domestic output still meets only a small part of demand: the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell put India's import dependence for crude oil at close to 88 per cent in 2023–24.

Natural gas often occurs with oil. Its main sources are the offshore fields off Mumbai (Mumbai High and Bassein), the Krishna–Godavari basin and smaller fields in Assam and Tripura. Gas burns more cleanly than coal and is a raw material for fertiliser; its chief users are fertiliser plants, power stations and city gas networks. Gas first moved across the country through the HVJ pipeline, whose initials stand for the places it joined: Hazira (Gujarat), Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) and Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh). GAIL was formed in 1984 to build and run it, and fertiliser and power plants were set up along the line. Imported gas arrives as liquefied natural gas (LNG) at terminals such as Dahej, the first, and Hazira in Gujarat and Kochi in Kerala. Official policy targets a rise in natural gas's slice of primary energy, now around six per cent, to 15 per cent by 2030.

Two unconventional sources hold gas in rock that gives it up only with effort. coal-bed methane is methane clinging to the coal inside the seams themselves; it is released by pumping water out of the seam, which lowers the pressure and frees the gas. With its large Gondwana coal deposits, India has offered such blocks in the Damodar valley, including Raniganj and Jharia, and in the Son valley around Sohagpur, and commercial production began in the Raniganj area. Shale gas is locked inside fine-grained shale and is freed by drilling sideways and cracking the rock with water at very high pressure. Shale gas production is negligible so far, partly because the method uses a great deal of water and raises fears of groundwater pollution.

Refineries turn crude oil into petrol, diesel, LPG and other fuels. Digboi in Assam, refining since 1901, is the oldest refinery still at work in India, and the first public-sector refinery opened at Guwahati in 1962. Some refineries stand near oilfields or on the coast where crude is landed, such as Jamnagar, Koyali, Mumbai, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Mangaluru; others were placed inland close to big markets and are fed by pipeline, such as Mathura, Panipat, Barauni and Bina. Jamnagar in Gujarat, run by Reliance, is the largest refining complex on a single site in the world. As a buffer against supply shocks, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd keeps crude in underground rock caverns at three coastal sites, which together form India's strategic petroleum reserve (see the table); a second phase plans new caverns at Chandikhol in Odisha and a larger facility at Padur.

Thermal stations burn coal, gas or oil to raise steam that drives turbines. Coal is bulky and costly to haul, so many big coal stations stand at the pithead, on or beside the coalfields: Singrauli on the Madhya Pradesh–Uttar Pradesh border, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Talcher in Odisha and Ramagundam in Telangana. Others sit on the coast to burn imported coal, like Mundra in Gujarat, or near large cities that use the power, with coal brought in by rail. Gas-based stations such as Kawas in Gujarat, Anta in Rajasthan and Auraiya and Dadri in Uttar Pradesh were sited along the HVJ pipeline. NTPC Ltd, set up in 1975 as the National Thermal Power Corporation, is India's largest power producer. The Central Electricity Authority's figures show that coal-based stations generated roughly three-quarters of India's electricity in 2023–24.

Hydroelectricity comes from falling water. It needs a steady flow and a good head, that is, a big drop in height, which is why the Himalaya, with snow-fed rivers and steep valleys, holds most of India's hydro potential, much of it in Arunachal Pradesh and the rest of the north-east and still unused. India's first hydro station was built at Sidrapong near Darjeeling in 1897, and Shivanasamudra on the Kaveri in Karnataka followed in 1902. Large multipurpose dams such as Bhakra Nangal (Satluj), Hirakud (Mahanadi), Nagarjuna Sagar (Krishna), Tehri (Bhagirathi) and Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) combine power with irrigation and flood control. In the Peninsula, stations depend mainly on heavy monsoon rain stored behind dams, as at Koyna in Maharashtra and Idukki in Kerala, so their output rises and falls with the monsoon. Projects of up to 25 MW count as small hydro and fall under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; since 2019, larger projects have also been declared a renewable source.

Nuclear power releases heat by splitting heavy atoms. India's first nuclear power station opened at Tarapur in Maharashtra in 1969, and others followed at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, Narora in Uttar Pradesh, Kakrapar in Gujarat, Kaiga in Karnataka and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, the last built with Russian help. The stations are run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. A site needs abundant cooling water, so many stations lie on the coast or beside a large reservoir or canal, away from dense population. The programme follows Homi Bhabha's three stages, met in Part 2: pressurised heavy water reactors burn natural uranium and produce plutonium; fast breeder reactors, starting with the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam, use that plutonium and turn thorium into uranium-233; and the third stage is meant to run on thorium, which India holds in monazite sands. Nuclear plants supply only about three per cent of India's electricity.

renewable energy has grown faster than any other source since the National Solar Mission began in 2010. Solar plants need strong sunshine and cheap open land, so Rajasthan and Gujarat lead, with large parks at Bhadla in Jodhpur district and at Pavagada in Karnataka, and a vast renewable energy park is being built at Khavda in Kutch. Wind farms need strong, steady winds, found along the coasts and through gaps in the Western Ghats, so Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, where the Muppandal area near Kanyakumari is well known, have the most wind capacity. Bio-energy comes from sugar-mill bagasse, crop waste and biogas. At the Glasgow climate summit in 2021 India pledged 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity by 2030. Abroad, India and France launched the International Solar Alliance at the Paris climate summit in 2015, with its headquarters at Gurugram.

Minerals cannot be grown back and fossil fuels warm the climate, so conserving both is part of planning. For minerals, conservation means recycling scrap metal, finding substitutes, upgrading low-grade ores so less is thrown away, and mining in ways that restore the land afterwards; the Indian Bureau of Mines gives star ratings to mines that follow a sustainable development framework. For energy, the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 created the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, which runs star labels for appliances, energy codes for buildings and the Perform, Achieve and Trade scheme, under which energy-hungry industries receive efficiency targets and can trade certificates for extra savings. An amendment in 2022 added a carbon credit trading scheme. The UJALA programme launched in 2015 spread LED bulbs across the country on a huge scale.

The three parts of this chapter form one chain of reasoning. Geology decides what India has: old Peninsular rocks rich in metals, Gondwana basins full of coal, and younger sedimentary basins with modest oil and gas. That endowment shapes India's energy pattern: abundant coal for power, and a heavy import bill for oil and gas that pipelines, coastal refineries and strategic reserves are designed to manage. Power stations follow their fuel or their water: coal stations at the pithead, gas stations along pipelines, hydro stations in the Himalaya and the Ghats, nuclear stations beside cooling water, and solar and wind farms where sun and wind are strongest. The change now under way is from finite fuels to renewable ones, with efficiency and recycling stretching what remains.

Exam traps

• Digboi (Assam) = oil struck in 1889 and the OLDEST working refinery (1901); Jamnagar (Gujarat) = the LARGEST single-site refining complex. Guwahati (1962) = first PUBLIC-SECTOR refinery.
• Mumbai High is an OFFSHORE field found in 1974; Ankleshwar and Kalol are onshore fields in Gujarat; Mangala is in Barmer, Rajasthan.
• The three working strategic petroleum reserves are Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur; Padur is the largest (2.5 million tonnes). Chandikhol (Odisha) is a planned phase II site.
• HVJ = Hazira (Gujarat) – Vijaipur (Madhya Pradesh) – Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh), built by GAIL; it is a GAS pipeline, not an oil pipeline.
• Tarapur (Maharashtra, 1969) = India's FIRST nuclear power station; Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu) = built with Russian help; the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor is at KALPAKKAM.
• Small hydro = up to 25 MW, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; since 2019 large hydro has also been declared renewable. India's first hydro station: Sidrapong, Darjeeling (1897).
• 500 GW of NON-FOSSIL capacity (not renewable alone, and capacity, not generation) by 2030 was pledged at Glasgow (2021). The International Solar Alliance was launched at Paris (2015); headquarters Gurugram, not Paris.
• Coal-bed methane comes from COAL SEAMS (Raniganj, Jharia, Sohagpur); shale gas comes from SHALE and needs hydraulic fracturing.

Recap

• Petroleum forms from ancient marine organisms in sedimentary rocks and collects in traps (anticlines, faults, salt domes); in India mostly in Tertiary rocks.
• ONGC (1956) and Oil India lead exploration; NELP (1999), then HELP (2016) with open acreage; crude import dependence close to 88% (PPAC, 2023–24).
• Oilfields: Digboi (1889), Naharkatiya, Moran (Assam); Ankleshwar, Kalol, Khambhat (Gujarat); Mumbai High (1974, offshore); Barmer (Mangala, 2004); KG and Cauvery basins.
• Gas: Mumbai offshore, KG basin, Assam, Tripura; HVJ pipeline (GAIL, 1984); LNG at Dahej, Hazira, Kochi; aim of 15% of the energy mix by 2030; coal-bed methane and shale gas.
• Refineries: Digboi (1901) oldest, Guwahati (1962) first public-sector, Jamnagar largest; strategic reserves at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, Padur (5.33 million tonnes).
• Thermal: pithead (Singrauli, Korba, Talcher, Ramagundam), coastal or near cities; gas stations on the HVJ line; coal gave about three-quarters of generation (CEA, 2023–24); NTPC (1975).
• Hydro: Sidrapong (1897), Shivanasamudra (1902); Himalayan potential; small hydro up to 25 MW. Nuclear: Tarapur (1969), NPCIL, three stages, PFBR at Kalpakkam, about 3% of power.
• Renewables: solar led by Rajasthan and Gujarat, wind by Gujarat and Tamil Nadu; 500 GW non-fossil by 2030; ISA (2015, Gurugram); Energy Conservation Act 2001, BEE, PAT, UJALA.

Practice questions

Sources

• Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell: oil and gas production, import dependence (2023–24), refineries, pipelines, LNG terminals, Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (2016) — https://mopng.gov.in
• Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd: strategic crude oil reserves at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur; phase II — https://www.isprlindia.com
• Central Electricity Authority and Ministry of Power: installed capacity and generation by source (2023–24); hydro classification (2019) — https://cea.nic.in
• Department of Atomic Energy and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd: nuclear power stations and the three-stage programme; Atomic Energy Act, 1962 — https://dae.gov.in
• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy: solar, wind, small hydro and bio-energy by state; non-fossil capacity (July 2025); International Solar Alliance — https://mnre.gov.in
• Energy Conservation Act, 2001 and the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2022 — https://www.indiacode.nic.in
• Indian Bureau of Mines: sustainable development framework and star rating of mines; mineral conservation — https://ibm.gov.in