There are three stages in the process, upstream: exploration and downstream: refining and marketing. After extracting crude oil from the reserves, it is processed in refinery to yield various petroleum products, which are further marketed. Petroleum products are obtained through a two-stage process: distillation and chemical processing.

Distillation involves breaking crude oil into light distillate, medium distillate and heavy distillate. Chemical processing is done to add value to products.

Industry Wish List Assocham, FICCI and industry experts: Infrastructure status to pipelines (including cross country pipelines) for faster commercialization of the new gas finds in the KG basin. Crude oil product and gas pipelines, storage terminals and other related facilities for transportation and storage should be classified as infrastructure facilities. Oil and gas exploration and production industry should be given infrastructure status Infrastructure status to LNG regasification terminals. Reduction in the excise duty on petrol and diesel. Dual pricing for domestic LPG, wherein only the lower middle class and BPL families are provided with the subsidized LPG.  Budget over the years Budget 2004-05 Budget 2005-06 Budget 2006-07 Excise duty on LNG (liquefied natural gas) exempted. Countervailing duty (CVD) exemption to continue. 2% cess levied on all taxes including excise. No credit of cess on motor spirit, high-speed diesel and light diesel oil. Existing exemption on naphtha/LNG used for generating synthetic gas or ammonia for manufacture of Heavy water extended to naphtha/LNG for generation of steam. Excise duty on gas stoves with a maximum retail price of Rs 2,000 per unit reduced from 16% to 8%. Customs duties on crude oil halved to 5% from 10%. Customs duties on petrol and diesel reduced to 10% from 20%. Customs and excise duties on LPG and kerosene eliminated. Customs duties on all other petroleum products other than above reduced to 10% from 20%. Excise duties on petrol and diesel fixed as a combination of ad-valorem and specific duties. Cess on petrol and diesel increased by 50 paise per litre. Cess on petroleum crude oil under the Oil Industry (Development) Act 1974 stands increased from Rs1, 800 per tonne to Rs 2,500 per tonne Tariff rate of customs duty on petroleum crude reduced from 10% to 5%. Effective rate continues at 5%. Tariff rate of customs duty on petroleum products reduced from 15% to 10%. Effective duty has been kept at 10%. Customs duty on naphtha reduced from 10% to 5 %. Customs duty on natural gas, propane and butanes falling reduced from 10% to 5% [Read more on Budget 2004-05] [Read more on Budget 2005-06] [Read more on Budget 2006-07]
Key Positives Exploratory successes: The country has seen a spate of successful oil and gas discoveries over the past 4-5 years. This could be attributed to favourable government policies for E&P segment. With success of NELP, the exploration acreage is increasing at a faster clip. However, still 52% of the exploration acreage is not explored or poorly explored, which promises good potential. With commercialization of the said reserves, the demand supply scenario of the natural gas in the country is set to reduce. Robust demand growth: Demand for petroleum products is dependent on the level of economic activity of a nation. The per capita consumption of India is one of the lowest in the world. In the past, we have seen a fair degree of correlation between the growth in petroleum products and the growth in the overall economic activities. With economy expected to register a decent growth going forward, the demand for petroleum products is likely to be on the higher side.		Key Negatives Regulatory hindrances: With a view to move towards market-determined prices of petroleum products, APM (administered pricing mechanism) was dismantled in 2002. However, the subsequent steep rise in the crude oil prices had forced government to regulate the prices once again. Thus, profitability was severely dented. Subsidy burden: Under-recoveries on the sale of sensitive petroleum products continues to hurt companies operating in the segment. Upstream players (ONGC and GAIL) continue to share 33% of the gross under-recoveries. This has constrained the growth in profitability to a large degree. Also, downstream segment continues to suffer from lack of visibility due to ad-hoc subsidy sharing mechanism. Lower tariff protection: India has a surplus refining capacity, which is further likely to increase over the next few years. This is due to various brownfield and greenfield projects undertaken both by public sector as well as private sector enterprises. With current favourable demand dynamics, companies are able to reap benefits from export of petroleum products. However, with significant global refining capacities coming up post 2008, refining margins are likely to soften from the current levels. Considering the long gestation period and large investments required for setting up a new refinery, the direct margins required to cover the capital cost would be well over US$ 10/barrel (source: IOC). However, with lower effective protection and the less remunerative nature of exports, payback period is likely to be on the higher side.

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