Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) plans to invest over Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years in raising petrochemical production capacity, gas business, clean fuel, and augmenting marketing infrastructure, its chairman Arun Kumar Singh said. The investment will help BPCL prepare for the future where conventional fuels and zero-carbon mobility in form of electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen will co-exist while giving it the option to convert a greater degree of crude oil directly into high-value petrochemicals.
India’s second-largest fuel retailer is looking to create a 1,000 MW portfolio of renewable power generation capacity, mostly through acquisitions while also invest in biofuels and hydrogen, he told reporters.
It is targeting to convert 7,000 out of over 19,000 petrol pumps into energy stations in the medium to long term by offering multiple fueling options like petrol, diesel, flexi fuels, EV charging facility, CNG, and eventually hydrogen.
"In the years to come, BPCL has made aggressive investment plans. We shall be investing more than Rs 1 lakh crores at the group level majorly in enhancing petrochemical capacity and improving refining efficiencies (Rs 30,000 crore), gas proliferation (Rs 20,000 crore), upstream oil and gas exploration and production (Rs 18,000 crore), and augmenting (fuel) marketing infrastructure (Rs 18,000 crore)," he said.
Besides, the firm also plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore in renewable energy and another Rs 7,000 crore in biofuels.
BPCL owns and operates three refineries at Mumbai, Kochi in Kerala, and Bina in Madhya Pradesh which convert crude oil into fuels such as petrol and diesel. It is adding petrochemical units at the refineries, the latest being at Kochi, to capture value addition from producing speciality chemicals.