India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) plans to make investment of Rs1.7tn ($20.26bn) to expand its core oil refining and fuel marketing business.

Planned over the next five years, the investment will also be earmarked to venture into petrochemicals and green energy, reported PTI via the Economic Times, citing the company chair G Krishnakumar.

The move forms part of BPCL’s ‘Project Aspire’, a strategic framework aimed at strengthening its existing operations while making significant inroads into future energy markets.

Currently, the company holds approximately 14% of India’s oil refining capacity and a quarter of the fuel retailing network.

Krishnakumar, in the latest annual report, outlined the two pillars of ‘Project Aspire’: ‘Nurturing the Core’ and ‘Investing in Future Big Bets’ to help achieve net-zero carbon emissions from BPCL’s operations by 2040.

Krishnakumar said: “Our mid-term strategy is on a continuum. While we remain committed to growing our core businesses, which include refining and marketing petroleum products and upstream, we are equally focused on our big bets comprising petrochemicals, gas, green energy, non-fuel retail, and digital.

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“Project Aspire, with a planned capex outlay of around Rs1.70 lakh crore over five years, will enable us to create long-term value for our stakeholders while preserving our planet for future generations.

“A cornerstone of our long-term strategy, Project Aspire, with a Rs1.70trn investment, marks the initial phase of our multidecade odyssey to shape the energy of tomorrow. This, coupled with our robust balance sheet, fuels our ambition to lead the energy transition.”

BPCL’s investment in its core business is driven by the expectation of a 4-5% annual increase in India’s energy demand and petroleum product consumption, alongside a projected 7-8% annual rise in demand for major petrochemical products.

To capitalise on this growth, BPCL is enhancing its facilities, including a Rs490bn ethylene cracker project at the Bina refinery and a polypropylene project at the Kochi refinery.

Furthermore, BPCL has installed more than 3,000 charging stations for electric vehicles, with 900 fast chargers strategically placed along 120 highway corridors.

The company is also making strides in biofuels, offering petrol with a 20% ethanol blend at more than 4,279 petrol pumps and developing compressed biogas plants to produce compressed natural gas from municipal solid waste.