WionDrive News Desk 
Reliance Industries Ltd is looking for a bigger pie in the jet fuel business at world’s busiest airports. It has sought access to pipelines and storages that public sector oil companies (PSUs) have built over the years for supplying jet fuel (ATF) to these airports from depots and oil refineries. The country’s busiest airports have been fed by pipelines that built by state-owned energy companies like Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) over decades.
Reliance has been eyeing these pipelines for a decade now. In a recent comment to The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) draft regulation calling for supply of ATF in all existing and future airports through common pipelines, the company requested for an access to the pipelines built by PSU oil firms. As per the oil regulator, this could bring in more competition and cut fuel cost.
The oil regulator had invited comments from the public and various stakeholders including oil marketing companies (OMCs), airport operators, and airlines operators for development of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) pipelines.
The Ambani-owned company which is seeking access to pipelines that supply ATF to airports especially at Mumbai, said that “the common carrier pipeline scope (which gives third parties access to pipelines built by PSUs) should encompass the associated storage facilities and pumping stations at the ’off-site’ oil terminal facilities as they form an integral part of the ATF supply chain.”
The move could be beneficiary to Reliance as ATF demand in India is growing in double digits with more and more people flying. The demand rose by 11.8 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. At present, public and private sector refineries produce 17.12 million tonnes of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) in total. Out of this, 8.2 million tonnes is consumed within the country and the rest is exported.
Reliance operates two refineries at Jamnagar which produce close to 5 million tonnes of ATF, a large part of which is exported.
(with inputs from PTI)
