August 30, 2024 [Reuters]- India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp plans to increase its integrated refining and petrochemical capacities within the next five to seven years to meet growing energy demand, Chairman G. Krishnakumar told shareholders.
India’s annual consumption of refined fuels and petrochemicals is expected to rise steadily by 4-5% and 7-8% in the ‘foreseeable future’, he said.
“This presents a strategic opportunity to expand refining capacity alongside the development of integrated petrochemical complexes,” Krishnakumar said.
BPCL is exploring building a new 180,000-300,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in southern Andhra Pradesh state or northern Uttar Pradesh state, an industry source said in July.
The new capacities will be in addition to a project, worth 1.7 trillion rupees, that the company announced earlier this year to expand its existing facilities including refining, fuel retailing and petrochemicals.
Krishnakumar on Friday said BPCL would use a mix of internal accruals and borrowing from local and foreign markets to fund the expansion projects.
BPCL earlier this year announced plans to raise its refining capacity to 900,000 bpd and build two new petrochemical projects at the 310,000 bpd Kochi refinery in southern India and at its 156,000 bpd Bina refinery in central India.
The state-run company processes about 700,000 bpd at its three refineries in India.
BPCL aims to commission the petrochemical projects at Kochi and Bina by 2027 and 2028, Krishnakumar said.
In addition to its petrochemical projects, BPCL is expanding Bina refinery’s capacity to 300,000 bpd by 2026.
BPCL also plans to add 4,000 fuel retail outlets in India in 5 years, raising its total to 26,000, Krishnakumar said.
The company has set a target to end net carbon emission through its operations by 2040. To meet its net zero goal, it is investing 1 trillion rupees into generating renewable power, green hydrogen, compressed biogas, carbon capture utilisation and storage, to offset its carbon emissions.
It aims to build 2 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2025 and 10 GW by 2035, the chairman said.
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