Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) plans to start a trading office in Singapore in the near future to procure crude for its refineries and trade oil products, its head of refineries, R Ramachandran, said late on Wednesday. “We will open office in the near future,” he said, without specifying a timeline.
However, a company source, who declined to be named, said the office may start operations by September.
The company has started looking for office space and plans to transfer up to four staff from Mumbai to Singapore initially, Ramachandran said. The staff strength would grow as the company expands its trading business in Singapore, he said.
BPCL along with its subsidiaries operate refineries that can process 730,000 barrels per day of crude oil, equivalent to about 15 per cent of India's overall refining capacity.