State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) on Monday unveiled Project Aspire, its ₹1.5-lakh crore push in the next five years to strengthen refining, marketing and upstream sectors, and charting the course for green energy and rural FMCG retailing push.
The oil marketing company (OMC) is reassessing and re-prioritising its focus areas in light of the latest energy industry trends and governmental policies.
“Introducing Project Aspire - our new strategy that is built on eight pivotal pillars. These pillars are clubbed under two main themes: Nurturing the core and future big bets,” BPCL Chairman G Krishnakumar said at the company’s annual general meeting.
Nurturing the core has three foundational pillars—Refining, Marketing and Upstream. Future big bets is anchored on five key areas: Gas, Non-fuel Retailing, Petrochemicals, Green Energy Businesses, and Digital Ventures, he added.
“The company has set a planned capex outlay of around ₹1.5 lakh crore in the next five years which will enable BPCL to create long-term value for our stakeholders while preserving our planet for future generations,” he said.
Nurturing the core
Kumar pointed out that with the expected increase in overall oil demand in India in the foreseeable future, BPCL is focussing on strengthening its refining capabilities and continues to strive for heightened flexibility and agility.
“Specifically, Northern India is projected to face a product deficit of around 10 million tonne per annum (MTPA) by 2030. Likewise, BPCL has been in deficit of its own products in the Northern and Central India markets, necessitating reliance on sourcing from other oil companies,” he added.
To this end, the OMC has approved a project to expand the capacity of its Bina refinery from 7.8 MTPA currently to 11 MMTPA to secure its markets in Northern and Central India. BPCL’s marketing strategy is geared towards enhancing brand value and optimising customer experience as integral components of its growth ambitions, the BPCL chief explained.
“Our strategy for infrastructure network expansion will enable our presence in new demand-centres in the emerging markets such as upcoming highways, agricultural pockets, rural, remote, and far-flung areas. In this regard, I am happy to inform you that we are setting up Petroleum Oil, Lubricants and Lube Oil Base Stock installations at Rasayani along with receipt pipelines, with investments of around ₹2,753 crore. This will debottleneck the evacuation of products from Mumbai refinery and ensure seamless supplies, particularly to the Northern markets,” Kumar noted.
In the upstream sector, BPCL continues to focus on the oil and gas projects, particularly for early monetisation of discoveries made in Mozambique and Brazil. The initial 2-Train LNG Project in Area 1, Mozambique which is the first step towards unlocking gas resources of around 63 trillion cubic feet in which BPCL holds 10 per cent stake, is poised to resume project activities in the latter part of 2023.
Future big bets
Petrochemicals, said Kumar is among the company’s big bets for the future. India’s polymer demand will witness an approximate 5 per cent growth until 2040. BPCL has recently approved an Ethylene Cracker Project at Bina with an investment of ₹49,000 crore.
This project will drive the production of essential petrochemicals, increasing the share of petrochemicals in the company’s product portfolio to around 8 per cent.
“In biofuels, having achieved 10.6 per cent ethanol blending in petrol in this year (FY23), we plan to increase the blending to 12 per cent in FY24. The company is progressing towards achieving 20 per cent blending by 2025, and currently around 1,350 retail outlets are E20 compliant,” he added.
In E-mobility, BPCL is committed to providing electric vehicle charging facilities at 7,000 energy stations in the coming five years, Kumar informed.
“In the renewables space, our company aspires to build 1 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2025 and 10 GW by 2040-through both organic as well as inorganic routes,” Kumar said.