Subhechcha Ganguly 
Sanjay Kumar Vasudevan ,Executive Director is one of the few visionary leaders who has embarked upon a transformative journey, creating resounding ripples in the dynamic realm of petroleum, oil, and gas. With an unrivaled passion and unwavering commitment to sustainable development in the realms of Indian Oil Corporation(SERPL).Craving an indelible path that ushers in a new dawn of conscientious corporate stewardship of his successful tenure, an exclusive interview with Mr.V Sanjay at the helm SERPL IOCL pipelines shares his ideas in his expertise in the industry
1.IOCL is one of the largest petroleum companies in India. The Pipelines division is one of the important links in ensuring timely distribution of crude oil & products across length and breadth of the country. Could you provide us with an overview of IOCLs South Eastern Region Pipelines, current operations, and their role in the energy sector?
Cross-country pipelines are globally recognized as the safest, most cost-effective, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly mode for transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. As a pioneer in oil pipelines in the country, managing one of the world’s largest oil pipeline networks, IOCL operates a network of 17564 km long crude oil, petroleum product and gas pipelines with a throughput capacity of more than 110 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MMTPA) of oil and more than 45 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day (MMSCMD) of gas. Out of that, IOCL added 2451 km of additional pipeline length during the year 2022-23 as part of its plans to continuously expand the network in line with growth in business. South-Eastern Region Pipelines (SERPL) with Head Quarters at Bhubaneswar is the newest and youngest region carved out in Pipelines Division in the year 2016. IOCL took this historic decision of forming a new region considering the ever-expanding energy scenario in the South-Eastern region of India comprising of five states viz., Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. SERPL is presently operating a cross-country pipeline network of crude oil and refined product of length of more than 2700 km and capacity of more than 25 MMTPA. Under this region, IOCL is having its biggest and largest Crude oil handling facility at Paradip with 3 single point mooring systems (SPM) having capacity of 37 MMTPA installed in deep sea at approximately 21 km from seashore. This is feeding five important refineries in the eastern part of the country, viz. Paradip, Haldia, Barauni, Bongaigaon, and Guwahati.
2. The energy landscape is rapidly evolving with increased focus on renewable energy sources and sustainability. Also, with India looking to achieve Net Zero by 2070. How are IOCL Pipelines contributing towards this ambitious goal?
IOCL is also keeping pace with the rapidly evolving energy landscape with increased focus on renewable energy sources and sustainability. During the 63rd AGM, Chairman, IOCL has declared 2046 as the year by which IOCL will achieve Net Zero Operational emissions. IOCL is planning to achieve decarbonization by mitigating Scope 1 & 2 emissions. In order to achieve this target, an investment of over Rs. 2 lakh crore has been announced towards mitigation measures and offset efforts. IOCL is working on several emission mitigation pathways like green hydrogen, biofuels, renewables, carbon offsetting through ecosystem restoration, and Carbon Capture Utilisation and storage (CCUS), among others. Pipelines division is also playing its part by contributing towards the NetZero target. We at SERPL have already taken a major step by converting more than 50% of all our operating pipeline valve stations into Net Zero locations. Further, we are also planning to make our operational pipelines into green pipelines by minimizing the carbon footprints. We have plans for augmenting the renewable energy capacity in the region so that overall emissions through our operations can be reduced to sustainable limits.
3. Safety is a priority in the oil & gas sector and something which, if not taken seriously, will have catastrophic consequences. How do you approach safety in your area of work?
We are aware that our installations are susceptible to fire hazards because we handle inflammable hydrocarbon products at locations spread across five states. To ensure the safe operation and maintenance of these installations, various Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are in place that are adhered to. The key elements of HSE management, like the implementation of the Work Permit System, Job Safety Analysis, Toolbox Talk, Safety Review Meetings, Safety Training, and Safety Audit are being implemented in true spirit. We are taking determined efforts to develop efficient fire prevention strategies in our installations so as to intensify our prevailing safety culture to eliminate fire or accident probability. Fire protection preparedness is equally vital as that of fire prevention. In this regard, we are ensuring the use of IFR suits at all operating stations. We have a well-established system to ensure the 24×7 availability of fire safety systems and equipment, also periodic checks of the fire protection system and maintaining them in healthy condition by checking their efficacies through various monthly mock drills is helping us in our preparedness towards mitigating any untoward incident. We also check our preparedness through joint exercises with mutual aid partners, which help us in keeping abreast with the latest practices and provide us with important feedback for undertaking improvement in our systems/procedures/preparedness.
4. What do you think are the possible challenges as far as operation of the pipeline assets under SERPL is concerned, and what steps are you taking to address those challenges?
Pipelines are the backbone of modern energy systems. They act as energy highways in the modern context. These complex and massive physical infrastructure assets require close monitoring to ensure optimal and safe operation. Pipeline monitoring is key to a better, safer, cleaner, and cheaper energy future. The major challenges as far as the operation of pipelines is concerned are increased pressures of urbanization near to pipelines, encroachments, third party damage, societal awareness on pipelines, and aging of pipelines. To ensure the integrity of the pipeline assets, continuous evaluation of the risk associated with Cross Country Pipelines and effective allocation of resources for prevention, detection, and mitigation activities is being done by us. We are aware that the risk assessment is a continuous and repetitive process. So, we have created a robust system of monitoring the pipeline assets on a real-time basis through various technological interventions. We are leveraging the technology to address the issues of encroachments and third-party damage to our pipelines. We are also engaging the communities by making them understand the importance of the pipelines and seeking their cooperation in maintaining these invaluable assets.
5. IOCL has been actively involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Can you share some examples of IOCL’s SERPL efforts to uplift communities, promote education, and support social causes through CSR?
The theme of “Pehle Indian, Phir Oil” truly depicts IOCL’s vision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). IndianOil’s CSR is guided by its corporate vision of caring for the community and the environment. Indian Oil believes that CSR is the continuing commitment to conduct its business activities ethically and contribute to the economic development while improving the quality of lives of the local community, especially in the vicinity of its establishments and the society at large. IndianOil, as India’s largest energy PSE, has always been going beyond business priorities to align with national commitments. IndianOil has a long-standing CSR legacy, which started long before the CSR legislation under Companies Act 2013 came into effect. At SERPL, we have been undertaking several impactful initiatives under healthcare, education, environmental sustainability, etc. During the unprecedented COVID pandemic, we extended support to many govt. hospitals. We have been endeavoring to focus on projects having long-term impacts on the lives of our stakeholders. We have implemented several projects in Odisha in the recent past – Construction of Centre of Culture in Deogarh District; Bindu Sagar Lake Cleaning Project in Bhubaneswar; Distribution of relief materials during COVID lockdown & also during Cyclone Yaas, Augmentation of 100-bedded ICU Ventilator facilities at Bargarh in Odisha, Provision of BLS & ACLS ambulances for covid patients at Simdega in Jharkhand, Provision of oxygen cylinders at Anakapalli & Narsipatnam of Visakhapatnam District in Andhra Pradesh etc., were undertaken by SERPL. In the last 7 years, SERPL has spent 46+ Crores under CSR.
Keeping in view the importance of learning in the times of COVID, education has also been a focal point of CSR under SERPL. Apart from providing training to underprivileged girl students from six states under flagship CSR project ‘IndianOil-Vidushi’ and providing merit scholarships to Vidushis, SERPL is also establishing Mini Science Centres in several government schools in Odisha & Chhattisgarh. Mini Science Center (MSC) aims to provide hands-on experience for learning science and mathematics for the students of class 5th to 10th. It has a range of 80 tabletop working models with 40 bilingual backdrops and manuals. MSC is an innovative and interactive teaching aid to facilitate the learning process and is also mapped with CBSE, ICSE, and state board curriculums. This project has helped in attracting students to Science & Technology streams through experiencing the power of science at the Mini-Science Centers in government. schools that we have set up.
Also, SERPL is executing a unique CSR Project Lakshya: Healthcare Skilling for unemployed stakeholders along our pipeline route. Under this initiative, socio-economically underprivileged stakeholders are shortlisted, trained, and groomed for enhanced employability in the already strained healthcare sector. This is a concentrated effort to provide skills to those people who wish to grow but lack financial support. In this project, we have taken care of each aspect, such as boarding, lodging, stipend, uniform, insurance, etc. for the trainees from rural areas so that they can dedicatedly focus on the course curriculum.
6. You have been recognised as a true corporate leader because of majestic work ethics and deliberations. Therefore, what is your philosophy when it comes to leading teams?
I believe at the outset that, as a leader, one has to clearly articulate the vision and goals , and objectives to each and every team member. While motivating the team members towards achieving the targets and outperforming by striving for going beyond them, recognising them timely for the achievements is also essential. When it comes to motivating human beings, I strongly believe that the “Pull” strategy works better than the conventional “Push” strategy. The former is intrinsic, and the individual owns up the goals, objectives, and vision as his/her own. We in IOCL follow the Core Values viz. Care, Passion, Innovation & Trust, and I follow these values in the true spirit on a continuous basis.
I am a big fan of individuals who bring about incremental innovations in their day-to-day work, and I feel such team members contribute tremendously to the growth of any organization. A leader must be a good listener if one wants to benefit from such innovators.
A leader should be equally comfortable celebrating success with the teams as well as standing by them in case of crises/exigencies and help them come out of such critical situations.
An important attribute of any leader is that he should develop future leaders from his team by identifying, developing, and nurturing them for future responsibilities. This is possible only if he/she on a sustained and continuous basis strives for making him/herself “dispensable” in the organization, which may appear to be paradoxical.
