India is the world's third-largest energy consumer. Despite the recent economic downturn, the increasing demand for fuel has led to up to 17% rise in petrol consumption, making it easier for petrol companies to reap profits.

The economic benefits of petrol pump companies in India promote development, making the oil and gas sector the backbone of the Indian economy.

Here is a list of India's top 10 petrol companies and their contribution to the Indian economy.

Mentioned below are major oil & gas companies in India:

Government Oil and Gas Companies:

1. ONGC

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited was founded on 14 August 1956 by the Government of India. Platts ranked it 5th among the Top 250 Global Energy Companies and 158th in the Fortune 500 list.

ONGC or Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is a public sector firm. This petrol company in India produced nearly 20.2 million tons of crude oil in the FY2020-21. It reported an annual sales income of $957 billion. There are 5 subsidiaries of ONGC:

• Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited

• Videsh Limited

• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

• Petronet MHB Ltd.

Currently, the firm reported a net profit of ₹6,734 crores in the fourth quarter of 2021. There are few promising projects under the pipeline. However, delays in the project forced it to reduce its annual expenditure.

Key Highlights:

• Market Capitalisation:  ₹4,21,188 crores
• Average Annual Turnover:  ₹1,10,345 crores
• Employee Strength: 25,993
• Total Number of Filling Stations: Not revealed
• Market Share: 70% of crude oil production
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 16.88 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum

2. Indian Oil Corporation Limited

The Indian Oil Corporation was established on 30th June 1959. Headquartered in Delhi, Indian Oil Corporation is a government petrol company in India. It is one of the world's largest corporations, with  94th rank in the Fortune Global 500 (2022). 

It occupies half of the market share in petroleum products, with 89.7 million metric tonnes sales in FY2020. The refinery strength of the Indian Oil Corporation is 11 out of 23 refineries present in India. The annual refining capacity of 80.2 million metric tons MMT. It accounts for over 32% of refining capacity in India.

Currently, it reported the highest annual profit of ₹21,762 crores in FY 2020-21. The company has subsidiaries in Mauritius, Sri Lanka and the Middle East.

The firm has multiple projects in the pipeline. One of such is to build India's first green hydrogen plant in its Mathura refinery.

Other projects include:

• Paradip Hyderabad Pipeline Project.

• Augmentation of Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG Pipeline and its extension up to Patna and Muzaffarpur.

• Paradip- Somnathpur-Haldia Pipeline Project

• Mundra Panipat Crude Oil Pipeline

• Ennore-Thiruvallur-Bengaluru-Puducherry-Nagapattinam-Madurai-Tuticorin Natural Gas Pipeline

• 30” OD Crude Oil Pipeline in the H-B section of PHBPL and Conversion of existing 18" twin Pipelines in the H-B section from Crude to Product and Gas service

• Koyali - Ahmednagar - Solapur Pipeline Project

• Augmentation of the Salaya-Mathura Crude Oil Pipeline System to meet additional crude oil requirements for Koyali Refinery project

• Replacement of existing Twin 42” Offshore Pipelines at Vadinar along with Existing PL Manifolds & 1 new Buoy

• POL Pipelines in Common Corridor Pipelines- Chennai

• Product pipeline from CBR to Asanur

• Muzaffarpur Motihari LPG-Pipeline

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation:  ₹2,41,000 crores
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹8,85,078 crores
• Employee Strength: 30,439
• Total Number of Filling Stations: 34,000
• Market Share: 32% of refining capacity
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 80.5 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum

3. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited was established in 1974 following the merger of Esso Standard and Lube India Limited by Esso. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation is a public sector oil and gas company headquartered in Mumbai. The following table lists the refineries:

4. Bharat Petroleum

On January 24th, 1976, Burmah Shell Group of Companies was taken over by the Government of India and was labelled as Bharat Refineries Limited. On August 1st, 1977, it was again, renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. 

Ranked as the 6th company in the Fortune 500 India and 309th on the list of the world’s biggest PSUs by Fortune, Bharat Petroleum is a public sector company headquartered in Bangalore. The annual sale of liquified natural gas stood at approximately 6.9 million metric tons in FY2020.

5. Oil India Limited

Oil India Limited was established on 18th February 1959. In 1961, it joined hands with Burmah Oil Company Limited, UK, to explore the newly found oil fields in the North-Eastern region of India. Oil India Limited is a public sector company. It is the 2nd largest government-owned hydrocarbon and production firm.

It has a market share in Numaligarh Refinery Limited. The company operates beyond the domestic boundary. The countries include:

• Libya

• Nigeria

• Gabon

• Venezuela

• USA

• Bangladesh

• Myanmar

• Mozambique

• Russia

Key Highlights:

• Market Capitalisation: ₹100,000 crores

• Average Annual Turnover: ₹41,758 crores

• Employee Strength: 7,097

• Total Number of Filling Stations: Not revealed

• Market Share: 9% of total crude oil production

• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 3.18 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum

Private Oil and Gas Companies:

6. Reliance Petroleum Limited

The company was founded in the year 2005. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, it is the largest privately-owned petrol company in India. It is a subsidiary of its parent company, Reliance Industries. The company has the world's largest refinery, with an annual crude oil production capacity of 1,240,000 barrels per day.

Precisely, it operates two refineries at Jamnagar, with a combined production capacity of 68.2 million tons annually. In FY2020, the total throughput was 342 kilolitres per month. The amount was double that of other available public sector petrol pump companies in India.

Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the upcoming project. This is related to building a new petrochemical complex at Ruwais.

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: ₹58,928 crores
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹3702 crores
• Employee Strength: 70,000+
• Total Number of Filling Stations: 64,000+
• Market Share: 6-8% of retail fuel share, 30% of total national refining capacity
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 77 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum

7. Cairn India

A subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, Cairn India is a private oil and gas company headquartered in Gurgaon. It was established on 21st August 2006. Its total contribution to domestic crude oil production stands at 54 billion barrels to date.

8. Essar Oil Limited

Primarily a subsidiary of Essar Group, this oil company was founded in 1989. Currently, Russian Rosneft has bought its stake and acquired the company. It is now renamed Nayara Energy. The company is popular for producing natural oil, gas, purified crude oil and other petroleum products. 

It operates Vadinar Refinery, the second-largest privately-owned refinery in India. Its annual refining capacity stands at 20 million tons. It is the fastest petrol selling company in India, with 6000+ petrol pump stations across the country. The business successfully registered an 18% year-on-year revenue growth. 

The company's upcoming project is set to commence in 2021-2022. It aims to expand its existing refinery and build a petrochemical complex at Vadinar. The total project investment is expected to be ₹1.5 crores. This multinational company also plans to increase one-fourth of petrol pump stations in India in two years.

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: ₹38,095 crore
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹1,20,000 crores
• Employee Strength: 7000+
• Total Number of Filling Stations: 6,500
• Market Share: 8.7%
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 20 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum

9. Tata Petrodyne

Tata Petrodyne commenced as a company on 7th January 1993. A subsidiary of Invenire Energy Pvt. Ltd, Tata Petrodyne is a private company. It has 2 offshore refinery blocks in the UK and Australia. In India, it has 7 onshore and offshore refineries across Indian states. Also, it has a stake in Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Limited. 

The latter holds an annual production capacity of 6 million tons. Outside the domestic boundary, it has a refinery block in the 2 following places:

• Tanzania
• Indonesia
• Central Asia

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: ₹15,000 lakhs
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹ 100 - 500 crores
• Employee Strength: 11-50
• Total Number of Filling Stations: 3000+
• Market Share: Not revealed
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): Not revealed

10. Adani Welspun Corporation Limited

Adani Welspun is a joint venture that was established in the year 2005. It is one of the leading privately-owned petrol companies in India. It holds 4 refinery blocks in the following places:

• Mumbai
• Kutch

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: ₹5000.0 lakhs
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹1 crores
• Employee Strength: Not revealed
• Total Number of Filling Stations: Not revealed
• Market Share: Not revealed
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): Not revealed

11. Jio-BP

The Jio-BP was founded in 2008 and then merged with British Petroleum Company (BP) in 2020. Jio-BP is owned by Mukesh Ambani, of Reliance Industries Limited. Its headquarters is located in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

It owns the largest refinery in the country, the Jamnagar refinery. With more than 1700 retail fuel outlets across India, it's no wonder this company is a vital part of the nation's infrastructure. 

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: Not revealed
• Average Annual Turnover: ₹14,869 crores
• Employee Strength: Not revealed
• Total Number of Filling Stations: 1,700
• Market Share: <1%
• Annual Production (Gas): 1 billion cubic feet per day (approx.)

12. Royal Dutch Shell PLC

Shell Plc is a multinational oil and gas company with headquarters in London, England. It was formed in 1907 after the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom. Shell has been a leading player in the oil and natural gas company sector for a very long time. 

Back in 1964, it played a key role in the first-ever commercial sea transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas. Shell has a license to set up 2,000 filling stations in India. Its first retail outlet in India was set up on 6th December 2006, in Habsiguda in Hyderabad.

Key Highlights:-

• Market Capitalisation: £176.75 billion
• Average Annual Turnover: £292.61 billion
• Employee Strength: 90,000
• Total Number of Filling stations: 350+
• Market Share: <1%
• Annual Production (Crude Oil): 1.66 million barrels per day

Thus, these are the 12 major players in the Indian oil and gas sectors. These leading petrol pump companies in India are not only involved in business operations. But these offer employment opportunities to young Indians to build their livelihood as well.