Who needs a PESO licence
If your plant stores more than 2,500 litres of diesel, more than 30 litres of petrol or thinner, or more than 45,000 litres of furnace oil, you need a licence from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) under the Petroleum Rules, 2002. The limits depend on flash point: Class A is below 23 °C (petrol, acetone, toluene), Class B is 23 °C to 65 °C (diesel, kerosene) and Class C is 65 °C to 93 °C (furnace oil, LDO). Class C above 5,000 litres also needs a prior report to PESO even when no licence is required.
For a fixed diesel, solvent or furnace-oil tank in a factory, the licence you need is Form XV, granted by PESO. Diesel kept only in drums up to 25,000 litres can instead be licensed on Form XIII by the District Magistrate, which is quicker and cheaper. Unlicensed storage above the limit is an offence and gives your insurer a reason to reject a fire claim, so this is worth getting right.
The five steps to a PESO licence
Step 1: Design the storage before you build it. PESO approves drawings first and inspects the built installation afterwards, so a tank installed before the drawings exist is a liability. Prepare a scaled site plan showing the tank's distance from the boundary, buildings and sources of ignition, a bund that holds the full contents of the largest tank, a tank fabricated and tested to an accepted code, and flameproof electricals in the hazardous zone with PESO approval numbers.
Step 2: Get the No Objection Certificate from the District Authority. Under Rule 144 you apply to the District Magistrate (or Police Commissioner in metro cities) with two copies of the site plan. The authority must decide within three months, and the NOC comes back with your plan endorsed under seal. This is the slowest stage, so start it first and run it alongside the design.
Step 3: Apply online on the PESO portal. Register on the National Single Window System and the PESO licensing portal at peso.gov.in, select the Petroleum Rules, 2002 and Form XV, and enter the class, maximum quantity and tank details. Upload the endorsed site plan and NOC, the layout and tank drawings, the electrical and fire-fighting layouts, the fabricator's test certificate, proof of possession of the premises and the company's authorisation documents, then pay the fee through the portal.
Step 4: Clear plan approval, build, and pass inspection. A Controller of Explosives scrutinises the drawings and raises queries on the portal; answer them promptly. Once plans are approved, build exactly to them, keep the hydrostatic, earthing and calibration records, and file a completion report. A PESO officer then inspects the site against the approved drawing.
Step 5: Download and display the licence. The Form XV licence is issued digitally with the approved plan attached. Print it and keep it at the installation; inspectors, the fire service and customer auditors will ask for it.
Validity, renewal, cost and time
Every petroleum licence expires on 31 December and can be granted or renewed for up to three calendar years at a time. Under Rule 148 the renewal must be filed at least 30 days before expiry; file later and the fee doubles, and a licence more than 30 days past expiry cannot be renewed at all, which means a fresh NOC and a fresh application. Put the renewal in the compliance calendar for October of the final year, with the portal login noted against it.
The government fee is small, a few thousand rupees for a three-year grant on a typical factory tank, and the portal calculates it. The real cost is the drawings, the tank and the time. Allow six to nine months for a new installation from first drawing to licence, most of it in the District Authority NOC and in answering PESO's queries. A straightforward renewal with no change in layout takes a few weeks.
Where applications fail
Four problems account for most stalled files: a safety distance that falls short because the tank was placed where there was space, drawings that do not match each other or the NOC plan, ordinary electrical fittings inside the hazardous zone, and queries on the portal that nobody is watching. All four are avoidable at the design stage, which is why a one-day site assessment against the Petroleum Rules before you apply is the cheapest step in the whole process.
If your plant has a diesel or solvent tank that nobody has ever licensed, or a licence that lapsed when the person holding the login left, the fix is to treat it as a new application and start with the site assessment. A consultant who handles the drawings, the NOC, the portal and the inspection end to end usually costs less than one round of re-work and the downtime that comes with it.
