‘We’re looking at a lot of new pipelines in future’

Close on the heels of BPCL’s mega capex plan, another oil marketing major, HPCL, is eyeing an expansion of refineries to take on competition. Bloomberg TV India caught up with HPCL MD Nishi Vasudeva.

Please share details about the expansion plans of HPCL. Bloomberg TV India has learnt that as much as ₹21,000 crore will be invested for refinery expansion in the next five years and another ₹15,000 crore will be used for marketing infrastructure…

About ₹20,000-21,000 crore is going to be required for the refinery expansions and another ₹15,000 crore we are looking at for marketing infrastructure. We are spread across the length and breadth of the country and, as the sales volumes go up, there is a requirement for putting up additional depots and terminals. There is a lot of focus thrust being given on the expansion of LPG into smaller areas and to rural areas. So, we would definitely need additional bottling capacity. So, there would be additional bottling plants coming up.

Plus, we give a lot of focus on pipelines because that is the most economical and most environment- friendly way of moving petroleum products. We are also looking at a lot of new pipelines in the coming years.

At some time in the future, if a given opportunity arises, then definitely something like this could be looked at.

We are looking at improving the profitability for both our refineries. We are going in for bottoms upgradation so that you are making more value added products, which obviously improves our GRMs (gross refining margins), and at the same time adding capacity at both the refineries. That is something which is going to be required in the longer term for us.

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