Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), one of India’s largest oil refining and marketing companies, is getting into petrochemicals.
Feasibility studies and other pre-project activities are in progress to establish ethylene cracker project at Bina Refinery in Madhya Pradesh and a polypropylene project at Kochi Refinery in Kerala.
The projects are likely to take around four years for completion once the environmental clearance is received and are expected to come on stream by 2026.
“Once commissioned, these will increase the share of petrochemicals in the company’s product portfolio from around 1% currently to about 8%, and there is good margins in this business,” says Arun Kumar Singh, chairman and managing director.
The move is a part of six strategic sectors that the corporation has identified as pillars of future growth as the world transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy petrochemicals gas renewables new companies i.e. consumer commerce e-mobility and upstream.
By 2040 BPCL hopes to have net-zero emissions and is investing about Rs 1.4 trillion for these energy transitions.
A thorough roadmap is being developed with the assistance of a top expert and it includes important milestones that must be reached at certain points along the way.