NEW DELHI: India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) plans to invest $11 billion in southern Andhra Pradesh state for a new refinery and petrochemical project to meet rising fuel demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy, its chairman said.

“We feel there is a big opportunity in refining sector. India’s primary energy demand itself is also going to increase three to four times as its economy expands,” G. Krishnakumar told Reuters in an interview.

The project will have a 35 per cent petrochemical intensity and could cost 900-950 billion rupees ($10.56-11.14bn).

The company operates three refineries in India with combined capacity of 35.3 million tpy. It also buys fuels from a 3m tpy Numaligarh refinery in the northeast. Krishnakumar said about 80pc output from the proposed Andhra complex will be sold in southern India.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024