The year 2017 has irrefutably brought a revolution in the global energy fraternity. Petroleum coke industry, in this regard, has been one of the most debatable verticals in the overall oil & gas and mining business this year. Right from its import-export curve to its meticulous impact on the environment, petroleum coke, commonly dubbed as pet coke has bagged quite an arguable popularity lately. Though this dynamism of sorts has been at a global scale, India undoubtedly generated a rather substantial momentum with regard to this changing landscape of petroleum coke market.
U.S. Petroleum Coke Market Size, By Physical Form, 2016 & 2024 (TMT)
India witnesses a regulatory blow pertaining to petroleum coke market demand
The alleged Supreme Court order to ban the use of pet coke and furnace oil, as a proposition to fight the pollution in the country, as per experts, is a major move creating a huge impact on India petroleum coke industry demand. Reportedly, the Environment Bench, earlier this year in October, already passed an order to ban the usage of pet coke and furnace oil in industrial arenas in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
As per the reports, India is the world’s largest consumer of petroleum coke, which as claimed by The Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, is responsible for 11 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than coal. Not only this, this arguably prevalent industrial fuel, is also infamous for emitting a considerable percentage of Sulphur dioxide during its combustion process. The ban policy allegedly comes on the heels of such hazardous aspects of pet coke and the already deteriorating environmental scenario in India.
The major aspect of this ruling has been on the material import, which has become a prime concern for the environmental forums. As per reliable reports, the overall petroleum coke market size in India, in terms of consumption accounts for approximately 25 million tonnes, exempting 13 million tonnes from this, the rest is imported. The aforementioned statistics is evident enough to validate the efforts undertaken by the legislative bodies with reference to limiting the import of this material.
In fact, as per the latest reports, the ban which was at present, limited to the three states comprising Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana is likely to be imposed on the entire country. It is prudent to mention that the above bulletin has created quite a strenuous situation for the involved local players in the petroleum coke market, including Reliance Industries, Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Indian Oil Corp. Over the recent years, India’s renowned refiner IOC in collaboration with few other refiners have invested billions in the installation of coker units to manufacture gasoline and LPG. These units, reportedly, produced approximately 25%-30% of pet coke as a byproduct, which was then sold by these refiners to the local industries. Reportedly, the latest order by the Supreme Court has created much ordeal for the pet coke industry players regarding the usage of the fuel.
Cement Industry likely to sustain the challenging trends in petroleum coke market
The oil ministry, reportedly, has made an appeal to the Supreme Court to exempt the cement industry from the banned domains where pet coke cannot be used. In fact, as per the industry trends, the cement sector will emerge as one of the prominent end-use domains for the pet coke market in the ensuing years, given the high calorific value, low ash content, and commendable profit margins offered by the fuel. Not only this, the environmental experts further claim pet coke to have relatively negligible impact on the environment, when used as a fuel.
In fact, as per the sources, the ministries of environment, petroleum, commerce and few other bureaus are drafting a policy focusing on usage of home-produced pet coke for non-polluting domains - cement production industry being a prominent one. Speaking along similar lines, ONGC’s effort in this regard is worth mentioning. The company, since the last one year, has been involved in a project worth INR 2,500 crore which claims to produce 3 MMCM per day of the gas for the next 15 years. Another such move was from Reliance Industries, the owner of world’s largest oil refining complex. The company has reportedly set up pet coke gasifiers to produce gas for internal demands. Seemingly, IOC is also in the process of assessing a 2 MTPA pet coke gasifier worth approximately INR 20,000 crore at its 300,000 bpd Paradip refinery located in Eastern India. Reportedly, the gas from the pet coke will be utilized to address internal demands from petrochemical plants and refineries.
These efforts by the regional giants vividly underline the growth prospects for India petroleum coke market despite the various challenges and restraints imposed lately. As per a report by Global Market Insights, Inc. India pet coke industry will witness a CAGR of 8% over the period of 2017-2024.
Calcined Petroleum Coke industry to witness phenomenal proceeds globally over the ensuing years
The global demand for calcined pet coke market is claimed to be in line with the evolving aluminum production, one of the chief end-uses of the calcined petroleum coke market. As per reliable estimates, close to 80% of the CPC is used in the aluminum smelting process. Geographically, China is claimed to witness a soaring calcined pet coke market demand in the coming years, followed by Europe and North America respectively.
Though India, in comparison to the other regions, faced quite a volatility in the aluminum demand over the recent years, industry experts cite the upcoming trends to be lucrative for the country, given the growing infrastructure spending, increasing demand for packaging materials, and the government focus toward improving the power transmission and distribution. This, in extension, testifies the potentially lucrative path for India pet coke market over the coming years.
Looking at the dynamic scenario with regulatory landscape as a frame of reference, it is quite overt that petroleum coke industry in the coming years will witness quite a revolution of sorts, with regard to its demand-supply curve and production & supply chain models. What remains to be seen is how India, the largest consumer of this infamous fuel till date, survives this challenging upheaval. However, on grounds of a broad application portfolio of this industry spanning steel, cement, power plant, aluminum, experts forecast a rather lucrative roadmap for the worldwide petroleum coke market in the coming years. As per Global Market Insights, Inc. the global petroleum coke industry share is anticipated to surpass a mammoth valuation of USD 25 billion by 2024.