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Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is betting big on clean energy and is looking to increase the share of gaseous fuel to nearly 15 per cent of its total sales in the next four-five years. Gas fuel currently accounts for less than two per cent of its total sales.
According to PS Ravi Executive Director (Retail), BPCL, the company would be ramping up its CNG network so as to increase the share of gaseous fuel.
“There will be a change from liquid fuel to gaseous fuel and we are keen to promote this. Currently gaseous fuel accounts for around 1.5 per cent of our total sales, we have aspiration to grow it to 15 per cent in the next four-to-five years,” Ravi said at a virtual media interaction on the revamp of Budge Budge storage installation and inauguration of multi-product pipeline line to offload cargo from port to facility.
Retailing licence
While the company doesn’t have CNG retailing licence for Kolkata it would be done through tie-ups with the licence holders. He said the retailer was also carrying out trials for battery swapping centres in Kochi and Lucknow and once the business model is established it would be launched in Bengal.
“This will provide better adoption as charged batteries for electric three wheelers vehicles will be available in rent. This will help adoption affordable,” he said.
The company has around five CNG stations in West Bengal, which are already operational and another 20 are either ready or work in progress.
Increasing market share
BPCL, which currently has around 27 per cent market share in West Bengal, is looking to ramp it up to around 30 per cent moving forward. This will be supported by the recent initiative of the company to ramp up its supplies by almost double to 47,000 KL at Budge Budge.
Revamped at a cost of ₹167 crore, Budge Budge Installation plays an important role in meeting the demand of petroleum products in the eastern region, he said.
The company currently has sales of about 1.4 million KL of MS (Motor Spirit) and 3.2 million KL of HSD (High Speed Diesel) per annum. There are 14 supply points with BPCL in the eastern region. As a part of growth in the North-East region, BPCL aims at adding four one-stop-truck shops (OSTS) and four company-owned and company-operated retail outlets (COCOs) in the coming year from the current 20 OSTS and 15 COCOs.
BPCL will also commence the multi-product pipeline from Haldia Oil Jetty of Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Port to BPCL’s Haldia coastal installation at an estimated investment of ₹97 crore.
BPCL has presence of 2,738 retail outlets in eastern region which is spread over 12 states and have so far commissioned nearly 300 new retail outlets this year.
The company is planning to add around 400 more retail outlets in the coming year with an objective of increasing the market share to 30 per cent in both MS and HSD from current 27 per cent.
BPCL has also planned to increase its presence in the eastern region through 500 FINO outlets and also launching Pure For Sure (PFS) NextGen facilities in Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Patna, Guwahati and Siliguri.
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