India's second-largest state refiner, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL), plans to invest US$6.75bn by 2022 to boost its crude oil refining capacity by 62%, from the current 730,000 bbl/d to 1.18 mbl/d by 2022.
The company, which operates the 120,000 bbl/d Bina refinery (Bharat Oman Refineries, BORL, in partnership with Oman Oil Company), plans to raise its capacity to 156,000 bbl/d by mid-2018, at a cost of Rs 200-250bn (US$3-3.75bn). The capacity of the Bina refinery would eventually be raised to 320,000 bbl/d by 2022. In September 2016, BPCL announced that it was considering an IPO to fund the expansion project. In addition, BPCL is currently raising the capacity of its Kochi refinery (+63% to 310,000 bbl/d) and aims to expand it to 400,000 bbl/d by 2022. The capacity of the Mumbai refinery will also be raised by 2022, by 17% to 280,000 bbl/d, while that of the Numaligarh refinery will triple from the current 60,000 bbl/d to 180,000 bbl/d.
BPCL bets on the fast-growing Indian market, expecting an average economic growth of 7-8%/year, pulling a 6-7%/increase in fuel consumption for the next ten to fifteen years.