BPCL to invest billions in refineries

Bharat Petroleum announced plans on Thursday to invest some USD 6.75 billion over the next six years to expand its oil refining capacity by 62%, from 730,000 bpd to 1.18 million bpd.

“We are aiming for an economic growth rate of 7-8%, so if that happens, Indian fuel demand is bound to grow,” Bharat Petroleum’s head of refineries, R. Ramachandran, told Reuters. “We will see a [fuel demand] growth rate which will continue to remain at 6-7% at least for the next 10 to 15 years.”

India is set to soon replace China as a trend-setter in global oil demand, with the IEA predicting the country will be consuming some 25 percent of all the energy produced globally by 2040.

About half of the investments will be allocated to the Bina plant in central India, whose capacity is slated to increase from 120,000 bpd to 320,000 bpd. The rest will go to plants in Kochi, Mumbai and the northeastern state of Assam.