Indian Oil, LanzaJet agree to explore development of SAF production in India

Officials from Indian Oil and LanzaJet as well as the Indian government were on hand for the signing ceremony during India Energy Week in Bengaluru. (Photo: LanzaJet)

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., India’s leading energy major, entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with sustainable fuels technology company LanzaJet to explore the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in India, LanzaJet announced Feb. 8.

This partnership will strengthen India’s transition to cleaner fuels and help achieve the country’s carbon-reduction goal.

The agreement was signed by Santanu Gupta, executive director of alternate energy and sustainable development for Indian Oil and Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of LanzaJet, during India Energy Week in Bengaluru, India, in the presence of Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, the Indian minister of petroleum and natural gas, Shri Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, the chairman of Indian Oil, and senior officials from both companies.

During the MOU signing ceremony, the chairman of Indian Oil said, “Indian Oil is the leader in India’s aviation-fuel segment and as we move forward on the path to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2046, we aim to enhance our basket of lower-carbon fuels. This partnership will be another step in this direction, which would accelerate India’s commitment to become net-zero by 2070. Creating an ecosystem of SAF in India will help accelerate the energy transition and this would ensure our leadership position in the sustainable-fuel segment as well.”

Indian Oil is India’s flagship national oil company working in across the hydrocarbon value chain, including refining, pipeline transportation, production of crude oil and gas, gas marketing, and alternative-energy sources.

As a rapidly developing country, India’s energy transition will play a pivotal role in global energy markets.

Indian Oil is adopting mitigation efforts such as sustainable fuel alternatives to further advance the country’s ambitious clean-energy goals.

LanzaJet is dedicated to accelerating the energy transition by embracing the circular economy.

“As one of the largest population centers in the world experiencing rapid growth of energy consumption and travel, India is a critically important market as our world grapples with energy security, climate change and economic-growth challenges,” Samartzis said. “Our partnership with Indian Oil is key to decarbonizing the aviation industry by enabling this region of the world to have increased access to sustainable-fuel alternatives through our alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) technology using Indian waste and ethanol sources.”

The MOU between LanzaJet and Indian Oil establishes a partnership to pursue large capacity SAF production in India using LanzaJet’s leading and proven ATJ technology.

The partnership will allow increased access and adoption of sustainable fuels in India by activating new technology to expand emission mitigation efforts.

LanzaJet and Indian Oil are working towards strategically expanding the partnership with a joint venture in India to deploy the LanzaJet ATJ technology.