Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is planning significant expansions in its refining and petrochemical capacities over the next five to seven years to meet rising energy demand, according to Chairman G. Krishnakumar.

With India's consumption of refined fuels and petrochemicals expected to grow by 4-5% and 7-8%, respectively, BPCL sees this as a strategic opportunity to enhance its refining capacity and develop integrated petrochemical complexes.  BPCL is exploring the possibility of building a new oil refinery with a capacity of 180,000-300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in either southern Andhra Pradesh or northern Uttar Pradesh, as reported by industry sources in July.  

These plans come in addition to a ?1.7 trillion project announced earlier this year to expand BPCL’s existing facilities, including refining, fuel retailing, and petrochemical operations. Krishnakumar mentioned that BPCL would fund these expansions through a combination of internal accruals and borrowing from both local and foreign markets.  Earlier this year, BPCL announced its goal to increase its refining capacity to 900,000 bpd. The company also plans to develop two new petrochemical projects at its 310,000 bpd Kochi refinery in southern India and its 156,000 bpd Bina refinery in central India. Currently, BPCL processes approximately 700,000 bpd across its three refineries in India.  

The petrochemical projects at Kochi and Bina are expected to be operational by 2027 and 2028, respectively. Additionally, BPCL is working to expand the capacity of its Bina refinery to 300,000 bpd by 2026.  In the retail sector, BPCL plans to add 4,000 new fuel retail outlets in India within the next five years, bringing the total to 26,000.  BPCL is also committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040. To meet this goal, the company is investing ?1 trillion in renewable energy generation, green hydrogen production, compressed biogas, and carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technologies. BPCL aims to build 2 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2025 and 10 GW by 2035, according to Krishnakumar.  

(ET)