State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) will invest about ₹25,000 crore to set up an ethylene cracker plant at Rasayani, 50 kilometres from its Mumbai refinery, as the firm pushes further into the petrochemicals business to fuel growth.
The share of petrochemicals in BPCL’s portfolio is currently “around 1per cent” as the refiner mostly focussed on transportation fuels so far. But, with electric vehicles coming in, the firm reckons that “it is likely to have some impact on transportation fuels”.
“We are now thinking of diversifying more into petrochemicals. Our plan is to move from 1 per cent to 10 per cent and, if possible, go up to 15 per cent. This is what the existing configuration of our refineries will allow us.