Engineers India in talks to develop Guyana's first oil refinery, says CMD Vartika Shukla

EIL plans to offer project management and consultancy services for the proposed refinery.

Guyana had first come up with a tender for a refinery with a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day. However, the plan was shelved because the capacity was found to be unviable.

“The current consideration of the authorities is to develop a refinery of 1.5 million-2 million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity," an Indian government official said, requesting anonymity.

Constructing a 1.5mtpa refinery would cost about ₹7,000 crore, with the PMC cost 2% of the overall capital expenditure. State-run EIL has played a key role in developing refineries globally, including in Mongolia and Nigeria, and recently won a contract to expand Africa’s largest refinery—Dangote in Nigeria.

“We are aware they (Guyana) put out a tender for investment with the refinery… We would be keen to do a PMC for that, given our expertise. Our team is there… We are in touch with the leadership in Guyana for favourably looking at us," Shukla said. “We will make sure that we are there in their reckoning in a very serious manner… that they take us on board, considering the excellent work that we’ve helped them with."

EIL’s proposed project management and consultant (PMC) role for the planned refinery help will enhance India’s broader energy ties with Guyana, which has reserves of over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent, considered the most significant global oil discovery of the past decade.

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, started purchasing oil from Guyana in the current fiscal and bought about 210,000 barrels per day in January. The country is looking to source almost all of Guyana’s share from its oilfields at preferential rates through long-term contracts. An ExxonMobil-led consortium has the rights to explore and produce oil in Guyana.

EIL’s projects

EIL may have an edge because it already has a presence in Guyana and has provided consultancy services to state-run Guyana Power and Gas Inc. for an integrated natural gas liquids plant and a 300MW combined cycle gas turbine.

“The establishment of a modular oil refinery in Guyana, developed with support from Indian companies, would serve to reduce Guyana’s reliance on imported petroleum products while enhancing national energy independence," according to an April 2025 study by UPES, a Dehradun-based university and sponsored by the High Commission of India in Guyana.

Queries emailed to the spokespersons of the ministry of external affairs and the High Commission of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana in New Delhi remained unanswered.

Experts said Guyana can be a key source of oil and India can play a significant role in its refining plans.

“If a country like India has a partnership with an energy-rich nation in terms of exploration or refining, it always helps in supplies of oil and products from that energy-rich country," said Kirit Parikh, former member (energy) at the erstwhile Planning Commission. “In such a partnership it is very difficult to stop supplies. India has had such partnerships with several countries, and this would bring in good progress in terms of assurance of supplies."

Prashant Vasisht, senior vice president and co-group head, corporate ratings at ICRA Ltd, said that although Guyana is far from India and logistics and freight costs would be higher, the country has major reserves and has ramped up production significantly in the past few years, which can be significant for India amid diversification of imports.

“Furthermore, collaboration in terms of refinery capacity in Guyana would help enhance the relations and India can obviously provide cost-effective services both in terms of consultancy and development of the refinery, compared to other global technology and consultancy providers,“ Vasisht added.

Focus of collaboration

The study by private university UPES (formerly University of Petroleum and Energy Studies), noted that the energy sector remains the cornerstone of Guyana’s development agenda.

“Therefore, the collaboration must focus on enhancing energy security, diversifying the energy mix, and integrating renewable sources, while simultaneously improving reliability and affordability," according to the study titled Opportunities for India-Guyana Cooperation in Energy and Infrastructure Sector.

“India and Guyana should begin by creating bilateral working groups to identify opportunities for joint investment in oil refining, oil storage and midstream logistics infrastructure. These efforts should be supported by feasibility studies and market analysis jointly undertaken by Indian public sector undertakings and Guyanese government agencies," it said.

In January, EIL signed a contract to expand Africa’s largest oil refinery to develop one of the world’s biggest hubs for nitrogenous fertilizers, comprising six ammonia-urea production trains. It will provide PMC and engineering, procurement and construction management services for the expansion of the Dangote Fertilizer Complex in the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Nigeria.

“This Nigeria refinery that we are building is phase two of the first one that we built. So, 650,000 barrels was the capacity in the first phase, and we are now doubling it up to 1.3 million barrels," Shukla said. “It will have not just transportation fuels, it’ll also have a polypropylene plant. It’ll have a propane dehydrogenation facility as well, which will again create more propylene for more polymer creation."

EIL is also looking at fertilizer projects in the same location, she said.

On the expansion of its global footprint, Shukla said the company has an office in the UAE for its operations with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and now plans to set up an office in Saudi Arabia to cater to Aramco, the largest oil producer in the world.

Aramco MoU

Last November, EIL signed a memorandum of understanding with Aramco Asia India Pvt Ltd to explore the commercial feasibility and business potential of setting up a branch office in Saudi Arabia.

India imports about 90% of its crude oil requirements, accounting for about a quarter of the country’s import bill. India sourced oil worth $161 billion last fiscal.

India’s oil imports are likely to continue, given the growing consumption trend. Petroleum product consumption is projected to reach a record 252.9 million metric tonnes (MMT) in FY26, according to the petroleum and natural gas ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell. This marks a 4.65% increase from the 241.8 MMT in FY25.