India’s oil and gas sector may soon undergo a major regulatory overhaul, as the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas prepares to bring privately operated or “captive” pipelines under the purview of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). This move will be facilitated through amendments to the PNGRB Act.

Currently, such infrastructure is classified as “dedicated” pipelines, used exclusively for internal company operations. While the term “captive” is frequently used by oil firms, it is not legally recognised in the Act. Under the existing framework, PNGRB has the authority to reclassify dedicated pipelines as “common carriers” or “contract carriers” based on their use.

Common carriers must permit third-party access, a provision that state-owned oil companies have often resisted due to concerns that it could dilute their infrastructure dominance if private sector players are granted access.

In December 2022, PNGRB wrote to public-sector oil firms — Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Hindustan Petroleum — urging regulation of their dedicated pipelines to ensure competitive fairness and safeguard consumer interests. “The intent of bringing such pipelines under the ambit of PNGRB is to protect the interest of consumers by fostering fair trade and competition… and monitoring of compliance with technical and safety standards,” the Board noted.

EU Sanctions Set to Impact Indian Oil Exporters

In a separate development, recent European Union sanctions on Russian petroleum products are likely to disrupt Indian crude export routes. The sanctions, part of the EU’s 18th package against Russia, prohibit imports of fuel refined from Russian crude — even if processed in a third country.

This poses a challenge for major Indian private refiners such as Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy. According to Reuters, Reliance exported approximately 2.83 million barrels of diesel and 1.5 million barrels of jet fuel per month to Europe in 2025. These figures represent around 30 per cent and 60 per cent of its total exports of the respective fuels.

The new EU rules will be phased in over six months. Nayara Energy, partly owned by Russia’s Rosneft, is also affected by these sanctions. As a result, Indian refiners are expected to rely more heavily on intermediaries and traders to reroute their petroleum exports to non-European markets.