BPCL

Updates with India's justification of buying Russian oil

By Shivam Patel and Chandni Shah

NEW DELHI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

On top of a new 25% tariff on India's exports to the U.S., Trump indicated in a Truth Social post last month that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia.

But the sources said there would be no immediate changes.

"These are long-term oil contracts," one of the sources said. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight."

Justifying India's oil purchases from Russia, a second source said India's imports of Russian grades had helped avoid a global surge in oil prices, which have remained subdued despite Western curbs on the Russian oil sector.

Unlike Iranian and Venezuelan oil, Russian crude is not subject to direct sanctions, and India is buying it below the current price cap fixed by the European Union, the source said.

The New York Times also quoted two unnamed senior Indian officials on Saturday as saying there had been no change in Indian government policy.

Indian government authorities did not respond to Reuters' request for official comment on its oil purchasing intentions.

However, during a regular press briefing on Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India has a "steady and time-tested partnership" with Russia.

"On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

INDIA'S TOP SUPPLIER

Trump, who has made ending Russia's war in Ukraine a priority of his administration since returning to office this year, has expressed growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks.

He has threatened 100% tariffs on U.S. imports from countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine.

Russia is the leading supplier to India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, accounting for about 35% of its overall supplies.

India imported about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1% from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by sources.

But while the Indian government may not be deterred by Trump's threats, sources told Reuters this week that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil after July discounts narrowed to their lowest since 2022 - when sanctions were first imposed on Moscow - due to lower Russian exports and steady demand.

Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS, Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd MRPL.NS have not sought Russian crude in the past week or so, four sources told Reuters.

Nayara Energy - a refinery majority-owned by Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM, and major buyer of Russian oil - was recently sanctioned by the EU.

Nayara's chief executive resigned following the sanctions, and three vessels laden with oil products from Nayara Energy have yet to discharge their cargoes, hindered by the new EU sanctions, Reuters reported last week.

(Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Susan Fenton and Joe Bavier)

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July 25 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD - CPCB DIRECTS BPCL TO DEPOSIT 10 MILLION RUPEES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

• BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD - TO SEEK LEGAL VIEWS ON NEXT COURSE OF ACTION

• BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD - NO MATERIAL IMPACT ON BPCL'S FINANCIAL OR OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Source text: ID:nBSE1wxLj4

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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July 22 (Reuters) - Indian refiners' crude throughput declined by 4.2% month-on-month in June to 5.41 million barrels per day (22.13 million metric tons), according to provisional government data released on Tuesday.

Refinery throughput in May was at 5.47 million barrels per day (23.11 million metric tons). On a year-on-year basis, refinery throughput fell 0.3%.

India's fuel consumption fell 4.7% in June from the previous month to 20.31 million metric tons, oil ministry data showed.

India is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer.

"Looking at the last years, refinery runs every year declined from May into June, likely driven by seasonally declining domestic oil demand due to the monsoon," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

Meanwhile, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India is confident of meeting its oil needs from alternative sources if Russian supplies are hit by secondary sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit buyers of Russian exports with sanctions unless Russia agrees a peace deal over the conflict in Ukraine, potentially complicating Moscow's oil sales to China, India and Turkey.

India's monthly oil imports from Russia in June surged 17.4% to about 2 million barrels per day, data provided by trade sources showed.

India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ONGC.NS is exploring building a 200,000-240,000 barrel-per-day refinery at Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat, a company source said last week.

REFINERY PRODUCTION IN TERMS OF CRUDE THROUGHPUT (in 1,000 tons):

Source: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

IOC: Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS

BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS

HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd HPCL.NS

CPCL: Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd CHPC.NS

MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS

Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS

Please note that CPCL's CBR refinery is de-commissioned under shutdown due to limitation in meeting required product specifications with the existing configuration.

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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July 10 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• BPCL CHAIR: CO WILL LOOK AT BUYING LPG FROM U.S. IF COMMERCIALLY VIABLE

• BPCL CHAIR: CO RECENTLY BOUGHT ANGOLA'S SAXI OIL, GHANA'S SANKOFA CRUDE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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July 1 (Reuters) -

• INDIA OIL MINISTER: HOPEFUL THAT FINANCE MINISTRY WILL RELEASE LPG COMPENSATION FOR STATE FUEL RETAILERS

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: [ ]

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, June 6 (Reuters) - India's two major private-sector refiners, which have long prioritised exports, are turning to local sales, grabbing share in the country's fast-growing $150 billion fuel retail market as weaker global demand squeezes profit margins offshore.

Reliance Industries RELI.NS and Nayara Energy are stepping up sales at home as fuel demand growth slows in developed markets and China, the world's second biggest oil consumer, with the transition to electric vehicles.

The lower demand offshore combined with supply competition from new refiners, such as Dangote in Nigeria, and rising exports from China's underutilised processors have compressed global refining margins and have made the Indian market, where suppliers save on freight and taxes, more attractive.

As a result, "private refiners are increasingly looking to supply to the domestic market, which is still growing at a healthy pace," said Prashant Vasisht, senior vice president at credit rating firm ICRA.

The International Energy Agency expects India will become the largest source of global oil demand growth out to 2030, in contrast with China, where fuel demand may have already peaked.

FGE analyst Dylan Sim said Indian gasoline consumption and diesel demand are on track to grow around 4% and 2% per year, respectively, over the next decade or so.

"Couple that with the market volatility and uncertainties seen in recent years, it makes sense for these private companies to try and diversify their businesses," Sim said.

PRIVATE PLANTS HOLD CRUDE ADVANTAGE

Offering discounts and growing their networks of big, modern stations featuring expansive retail offerings, private sector operators expanded their share of diesel sales to 11.5% and gasoline sales to 9.2% in the fiscal year that ended in March 2025, up from 5.2% and 6.7% respectively two years earlier, government data showed.

Reliance, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Nayara have a key advantage that allows them to undercut the dominant state-owned refiners at the pump. They can run cheaper crudes through their plants than their bigger rivals, which have simpler, aging refineries.

The two are the country's biggest buyers of discounted Russian crude, available since 2022.

While the private refiners do not publish their refining margins, analysts at Jefferies expect Reliance's margin to hold around $2 a barrel stronger than the benchmark Singapore refining margin due to its blending of cheaper Russian and Canadian crudes.

Reliance sells fuels through Jio-BP, its retailing tie-up with UK major BP BP.L which has 1,916 outlets in India.

Its domestic sales volumes of diesel rose by 35% and gasoline by 24% in the quarter ended in March from a year ago, Reliance told analysts in May, without specifying volumes.

Jio-BP plans to invest about 10 billion rupees ($117 million) annually to expand its local footprint in coming years as it sees a "long pathway" and growth in diesel demand in India through at least 2040, Vinod Tahiliani, chief financial officer at Reliance BP Mobility, told Reuters.

Jio-BP offers discounts of 1 rupee ($0.01) per litre of diesel and petrol off the price charged by state-owned retailers at its service stations.

Nayara, whose biggest shareholder is Russia's Rosneft, in April reintroduced discounts of 2-3 rupees per litre on gasoline and 1 rupee per litre on diesel. Selling through more than 6,500 fuel stations, it aims to add 400 this year, according to its website. Nayara did not reply to a request for comment.

State players Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Hindustan Petroleum Corp HPCL.NS and Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, which operate more than 90% of India's roughly 97,000 filling stations, have not cut pump prices as they seek to recoup losses on sales of cooking gas at government-fixed below-market rates, company sources say.

The three did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

SERVICE STATIONS GET CREATIVE

India, meanwhile, is expanding its highway network and auctioning large roadside plots for building fuel stations featuring a host of amenities for motorists.

Sukhmal Jain, who recently retired as head of marketing at BPCL, said state refiners are rapidly building their networks, including bidding for highway-side plots, and looking to offer services such as eateries, recreational areas and gym facilities in order to compete and boost sales.

The state retailers are also opening stores under a common brand name Apna Ghar, which means "Own House", with amenities such as dormitories, barbers, self-cooking facilities, laundry, and doctors on call for truckers who are on the road for more than 20-25 days a month, Jain said.

India's oil ministry said recently that Apna Ghar operates at 350 locations with 4,431 beds.

S.P. Singh, who manages a fleet of about 800 trucks and 150 trailers for New Delhi-based Chaudhary Transport, said his drivers are drawn to the amenities and cheaper fuel at private operators.

"They have convenience stores and cafes. Their staff is more responsive to customers and their toilets are clean," he said.

($1 = 85.7900 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Tony Munroe and Sonali Paul)

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May 9 (Reuters) - Indian Oil (IOC) IOC.NS and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) BPCL.NS said on Friday that the fuel retailers have ample stocks and their supply lines were operating smoothly as the conflict between India and neighbouring Pakistan intensified.

"IndianOil has ample fuel stocks across the country and our supply lines are operating smoothly. There is no need for panic buying—fuel and LPG is readily available at all our outlets," IOC said in a post on X.

Local media reports said panic buying broke out in parts of Punjab state, particularly in areas near the Pakistan border, where stockpiling was the most intense.

"Our supply chain operations remain robust and efficient, ensuring uninterrupted supplies," BPCL said in a statement.

Pakistan's armed forces launched multiple overnight drone and munitions attacks along India's western border on Thursday night and early Friday, the Indian army said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Manvi Pant; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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May 2 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS

• BPCL EXEC: PROCESSED 24% OF RUSSIAN OIL IN MARCH QUARTER

• BPCL EXEC: GETTING SUFFICIENT CARGOES OF RUSSIAN OIL NOW

• BPCL EXEC: LOOKING TO SET UP EITHER 9 MTPA OR 12 MTPA REFINERY IN SOUTHERN ANDHRA PRADESH STATE

• BPCL EXEC:HOPES TO SET UP ANDHRA REFINERY IN 48 MONTHS FROM INVESTMENT DECISION EXPECTED IN END 2025

• BPCL EXEC: GETTING RUSSIAN OIL AT A DISCOUNT OF $3 PER BARREL

• BPCL EXEC: SEES CRUDE OIL HOVERING BELOW $70 A BARREL

• BPCL EXEC:EXPECTS GOVERNMENT TO FORM MECHANISM FOR QTRLY SETTLEMENT OF REVENUE LOSS ON LPG SALES AT DISCOUNTED RATES

• BPCL EXEC: PEGS FY26 CAPEX AT 200 BILLION RUPEES, 250 BILLION RUPEES FOR FY27, 300 BILLION RUPEES FOR FY28

• BPCL EXEC: PURCHASE OF RUSSIAN OIL BY TURKEY, SYRIA HAS REDUCED AVAILABILITY FOR INDIAN BUYERS

• BPCL EXEC: HOPES TO PROCESS 32%-34% RUSSIAN OIL IN COMING QUARTERS

• BPCL EXEC: EXPLORING BUYING US LPG CARGOES THROUGH SWAP OF MIDDLE EAST CARGOES

• BPCL EXEC: SEES GAIN OF $20-$30 PER METRIC TON ON US LPG PURCHASE

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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NEW DELHI, April 29 (Reuters) - Trader Trafigura Tuesday said it would supply four million barrels of Oman crude Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS with degliveries starting in May.

"Trafigura will supply quarterly cargoes, destined for BPCL's Kochi Refinery, until March 2026," it said in a statement.

BPCL operates a 310,000 barrels per day refinery at Kochi in southern Kerala state.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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April 23 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD - SIGNS JV AGREEMENT WITH GPS RENEWABLES FOR CBG PLANTS

• BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION LTD - JV COMPANY SHAREHOLDING PATTERN: BPCL 50%, GPS 50%

Source text: ID:nBSE4KTQjV

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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April 9 (Reuters) - Sembcorp Industries Ltd SCIL.SI:

• BPCL AND SEMBCORP SIGN JV AGREEMENT TO BOOST GREEN HYDROGEN TRANSITION AND RENEWABLE ENERGY IN INDIA

Further company coverage: SCIL.SI

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April 8 (Reuters) - Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS on Tuesday signed a joint venture agreement with Singapore's Temasek-backed Sembcorp SCIL.SI to develop green hydrogen and renewable energy projects across India.

The joint venture will also consider projects in green ammonia production and bunkering, emissions reduction for port operations as well as other green fuel technologies, the companies said.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The deal comes at a time when India is looking to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and boost investments in renewable energy to meet its target of having at least 500 gigawatts (GW) capacity of clean energy by 2030.

CONTEXT

State-run oil refiners such as BPCL are increasingly forging partnerships to pivot from fossil fuels toward greener alternatives.

Sembcorp earlier this year signed a deal with the eastern Indian state of Odisha to develop a green hydrogen plant and industrial park.

BY THE NUMBERS

India is aiming to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen per annum by 2030, a process that will require 125 GW of renewable energy.

The country is targeting at least 500 GW of non-fossil power capacity by 2030, up from the current 165 GW.

Sembcorp India Energy, the Indian arm of Sembcorp, operates a wind and solar portfolio of around 5.8 GW across the country.

($1 = 85.9000 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, April 7 (Reuters) - India's state run Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS has awarded a 4-month tender to import one million barrels of U.S. crude per month from June to trader Glencore, two sources aware of the deal said.

The refiner will get one million barrels of West Texas Intermediate crude every month, the sources said.

BPCL did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comments.

BPCL often buys U.S. oil for its three refineries, which have a combined capacity of 706,000 barrels per day of crude.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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Repeats to additional clients

By Nidhi Verma and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, March 28 (Reuters) - India is considering a proposal to scrap import tax on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to boost purchases and help cut the trade surplus with Washington, a key irritant for President Donald Trump, four government and industry sources said.

The United States is India's second biggest supplier but the two sides are looking to ramp up volumes for India's energy-hungry economy, one of the fastest growing in the world.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's U.S. visit last month, India pledged to increase U.S. energy purchases by $10 billion to $25 billion in the near future, while both leaders agreed to target $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

Scrapping the import tax would make U.S. LNG more price competitive, and help trim India's trade surplus with the U.S., another government source said. The surplus totalled $45.4 billion last year.

"We are considering ending the imports tax on U.S. LNG under the bilateral trade agreement, similar to our model with the UAE," one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

India currently imposes a 2.5% basic customs duty and an additional 0.25% social welfare tax on LNG, but tax is not levied on supplies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia under bilateral agreements.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the senstivity of the talks. India's oil and finance ministries did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

Unlike Canada and the European Union, India is actively seeking to appease the Trump administration as it ratchets up pressure on trading partners, and is open to cutting tariffs on over half of U.S. imports worth $23 billion, Reuters reported earlier this week.

Also, China's 15% import tax imposed last month on LNG imports from the U.S. could divert trade of the super-chilled fuel to India, where the International Energy Agency expects a 60% jump in gas use between 2023 and 2030, with imports of LNG doubling over that period.

BIG LNG BUYER

India, the world's fourth-biggest LNG importer, imported 25.9 million tonnes of LNG worth about $14.2 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year to March 31, government data showed.

LNG imports are on track to average about 27-28 million tonnes in this fiscal year, with U.S. supplies accounting for 20%-25% of that, a third source said.

India's U.S. LNG imports are driven by state-run GAIL (India) Ltd's GAIL.NS long term deals with U.S. companies to buy 5.8 million tons of LNG annually.

GAIL has also said it would revive plans to buy a stake in a U.S. LNG plant or secure a long-term U.S. LNG deal after Washington lifted a ban on export permits for new projects, part of Trump's agenda to maximise U.S. energy development.

Indian companies including GAIL, Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, and Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS are talking to U.S. companies for additional LNG sourcing, Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain said last month.

India's oil ministry has asked companies to raise energy imports, wherever possible, a government source said.

Apart from LNG, India can also raise U.S. imports of petrochemicals, ethane, propane and butane, the source said.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Manoj Kumar
Editing by Tony Munroe, William Maclean)

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Corrects paragraph 14 to say India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, March 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco is in talks to invest in two planned refineries in India as the world's top oil exporter looks for a stable outlet for its crude in the world's fastest-growing emerging market, several Indian sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer and importer, wants to become a global refining hub as Western companies cut crude processing capacity in their shift to cleaner fuels.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's share of India's oil imports has declined as refiners that have invested billions of dollars in upgrading their plants diversify crude sources to tap cheaper alternatives, including from Russia.

Aramco is in separate talks to invest in Bharat Petroleum Corp's (BPCL) BPCL.NS planned refinery in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh and a proposed Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) ONGC.NS refinery in western Gujarat state, the sources said.

Aramco, BPCL and ONGC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both Indian firms are state-controlled.

While ONGC's Gujarat refinery plans are at a nascent stage, BPCL's chairman said in December that it aimed to invest $11 billion in its Andhra Pradesh refinery and petrochemical project.

Two refinery sources said separately that the projects would proceed regardless of whether Aramco invests.

"It all depends on the proposal that Aramco gives," one of them said.

Sources said state-controlled Aramco proposes to supply oil equivalent to three times its stake in each project, and wants to sell its share of production either in India or by export.

"We want flexibility in crude procurement. If we give them 30% stake, they want to supply crude equivalent to 90% of the capacity, which is not possible," the second refinery source said.

Other details, including potential investment size and the configuration of the planned refineries, were not immediately available.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to visit Saudi Arabia in the second quarter, and the two countries will attempt to reach an agreement before the visit, said a third source with knowledge of the matter.

India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Aramco has long been scouting for refining opportunities in India.

In 2018 it joined a consortium of Indian companies to build a 1.2 million barrels per day refinery and petrochemical project in western India and in 2019 it signed a non-binding agreement for a 20% stake in Reliance Industries' RELI.NS oil to chemical business.

However, the huge refinery project has been delayed by difficulties over procuring land and the deal with Reliance was called off due to differences over valuation.

In January, Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India would look to set up three refineries of 400,000 bpd each.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma. Additional reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi and Yousef Saba in Dubai. Editing by Mark Potter)

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Adds detail

March 25 (Reuters) - Indian refiners' throughput in February fell 4.5% year on year to 5.12 million barrels per day (21.67 million metric tons), provisional government data showed on Tuesday.

Refinery throughput in January was at 5.61 million barrels per day (23.74 million metric tons).

India's crude oil imports fell 9.9% month on month to 19.10 million tons in February, the lowest since November 2024, according to government data released on Thursday, while February fuel demand fell 5.4% from the same month last year.

India is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer.

Meanwhile, U.S. exports of crude oil to India last month climbed to their highest in more than two years, ship tracking data showed, as refiners in the country sought alternative supplies following tighter U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and tankers.

REFINERY PRODUCTION IN TERMS OF CRUDE THROUGHPUT (in 1,000 tons):

Source: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

IOC: Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS

BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS

HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd HPCL.NS

CPCL: Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd CHPC.NS

MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd MRPL.NS

Reliance Industries Ltd RELI.NS

Please note that CPCL's CBR refinery is de-commissioned under shutdown due to limitation in meeting required product specifications with the existing configuration.

(Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru
Editing by David Goodman)

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NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, March 24 (Reuters) - Indian refiners will issue fewer tenders for crude oil purchases on the spot market in the coming months, company sources said on Monday, as Russian supplies bounce back from sanctions-related disruptions.

Indian state refiners had all but stopped issuing spot tenders before this year as they gorged on Russian oil that has sold at a discount since some Western nations halted purchases and hit Moscow with sanctions over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But in January, the U.S. Treasury toughened its measures targeting Moscow's energy sector, slapping sanctions on 183 vessels that had been shipping Russian oil.

Companies operating in India, including Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS and state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, turned to the spot market in their scramble to replace the disrupted Russian supplies.

Three sources with Indian refiners, however, told Reuters that their companies planned to begin issuing fewer spot tenders as traders have again begun offering Russian oil shipped with non-sanctioned tankers.

The sources asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to journalists.

March saw imports of Russian oil to India - the world's third-biggest oil importer - return nearly their previous levels following a 3-month decline, as cargo deliveries resumed and some supplies were diverted from Turkey.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Joe Bavier)

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, March 7 (Reuters) - Indian state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS plans to float a 4-month tender next week to buy U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, as it eyes cheaper oil from the world's top producer.

The refiner will be seeking one million barrel of WTI every month for arrival from May or June for four months, the source said.

BPCL did not respond to Reuters request for comments.

The Indian refiner last year awarded a similar tender to European major BP BP.L.

BPCL often buys U.S. oil for its three refineries, which have combined capacity to process 706,000 barrels per day of crude.

India's imports of U.S. oil last month climbed to their highest in over two years, ship tracking data show, as refiners in the country sought alternative supplies following tighter U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and shippers.

India is planning to raise its energy imports from the U.S. to $25 billion in the near future from about $15 billion last year.

The U.S. exported about 357,000 bpd crude to India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, in February, ship tracking data from Kpler showed. That compared with exports of about 221,000 bpd last year.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

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By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. exports of crude oil to India last month climbed to their highest in over two years, ship tracking data showed, as refiners in the country sought alternative supplies following tighter U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and tankers.

The U.S. exported about 357,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude to India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, in February, ship tracking data from Kpler showed. That compared with exports of about 221,000 bpd last year.

The jump in exports to India underscores how multiple rounds of sanctions imposed by Washington on ships and entities dealing with oil from Iran and Russia since October are disrupting trade with major importers of their oil.

India said last month its energy purchases from the U.S. could go up to $25 billion in the near future from $15 billion last year.

"Indian refiners are trying to diversify their crude supplies, especially light-sweet barrels," said Rohit Rathod, a senior analyst with ship tracking firm Vortexa.

"Sanctions on Russian vessels that came in recently only pushed Indian buyers to look elsewhere," he added.

About 80% of the crude exported to India was light sweet West Texas Intermediate-Midland crude, according to the data.

Top buyers included Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Reliance Industries RELI.NS and Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, according to the data, while top sellers in the U.S. included oil producer Occidental Petroleum OXY.N, majors Equinor EQNR.OL and Exxon Mobil XOM.N and trading house Gunvor GGL.UL.

The companies did not immediately reply to requests for comments or declined to comment.

The U.S. also exported a record 656,000 bpd of crude to South Korea in February, as a 10% tariff on U.S. oil by China rerouted flows.

Exports to China from the United States eased to 76,000 barrels per day, among the lowest volumes in the last five years.

(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Liz Hampton and Marguerita Choy)

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Feb 21 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• NSE: BPCL AND BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES BEING EXCLUDED FROM NIFTY 50

• NSE: JIO FINANCIAL SERVICES AND ZOMATO BEING INCLUDED IN NIFTY 50

• NSE: CHANGES IN NIFTY 50 STOCKS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE FROM MARCH 28

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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By Mohi Narayan

NEW DELHI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - India will be a bright spot for petrochemical demand in 2025 even as global consumption lags supply, amid rising demand for electric vehicle parts, solar panels and household appliances, industry executives said on the sidelines of India Energy Week conference.

"We are seeing good local demand in the sectors like propylene where our company operates," Bharat Petroleum's BPCL.NS director of refineries Sanjay Khanna said.

Indian Oil IOC.NS Chairman A S Sahney said demand is expected to remain resilient this year.

Petrochemicals are used in key building blocks for a variety of goods such as plastics, paints, and pharmaceuticals.

Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, TotalEnergies's TTEF.PA global head of petrochemical trading, said there is good demand from the automobile sector while white goods consumption is recovering.

However, global petrochemical margins are expected to stay depressed for a few more years amid weak demand from top petrochemical consumer China and excess supply from new Chinese and Middle Eastern plants.

"The industry is waiting for China to announce its big incentive plan in March," said TotalEnergies's Gopalakrishnan, adding that this could spur China's demand and improve global petrochemical margins.

Refiners in India have been insulated from losses because they produce their own petrochemical feedstock naphtha, margins have been negative in the last 3-4 years for standalone plants which rely on imported feed, said Pankaj Srivastava, an analyst at consultancy Rystad Energy.

Meanwhile, investments continue to pour into India. The country is expected to receive $87 billion worth of investments in the next decade to meet the nation's rising demand for petrochemicals, the country's oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said last year.

He said India consumes 25 to 30 million metric tons of petrochemical products annually, and the chemical and petrochemicals sector, currently valued at $220 billion, is expected to grow to $300 billion by 2025.

Companies such as Nayara Energy and Haldia Petrochemicals have already announced plans to boost production.

Petronet LNG is setting up a petrochemical complex of 750,000 metric tons-per-year (tpy) propane dehydrogenation unit and 500,000 tpy polypropylene unit in the western state of Gujarat.

"The downturn in petchems has always been cyclical and we hope margins will recover in next three years," Petronet LNG Chief Executive Akshay Kumar Singh said.

(Reporting by Mohi Narayan; Editing by Florence Tan and Michael Perry)

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By Shariq Khan and Mohi Narayan

NEW DELHI, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India's state-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS plans to buy propane and butane from Norwegian energy giant Equinor Plc EQNR.OL, Indian energy minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

The two companies this week signed a preliminary deal, he told a news conference.

The agreement, which has a one-year duration, was signed at prices that are lower than global markets, Puri said at the India Energy Week conference.

He declined to share more details.

BPCL also signed a 12-month tender deal for the purchase of 1 million barrels of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude oil grade from TotalEnergies TTEF.PA and a 2.5 million tonnes liquefied natural gas import deal with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan, Mohi Narayan and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi
Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

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By Sethuraman N R and Nidhi Verma

Feb 12 (Reuters) - India's Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS will sign a contract with Brazil's Petrobras PETR4.SA for optional crude imports of 6 million barrels in 2025-26, Chairman G Krishnakumar said on Wednesday at the India Energy Week conference.

"We are diversifying our crude sources and currently process oil from 21 countries. Our goal is to mitigate geopolitical risks," Krishnakumar said.

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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Adds dropped word gasoline in paragraphs 7 and 8

By Mohi Narayan and Sethuraman N R

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Indian transportation fuel demand is expected to rise in the range of 6%-8% in fiscal year 2026, underpinned by rising vehicle sales, even as growth in Asian consumption lags growth in supply due to new refinery expansions in the region, industry executives and analysts said.

India is poised to be the largest driver of global oil demand growth this year, outpacing China, with its fuel demand set to rise through the next decade.

Consumption remains healthy in the country, and gasoline demand is expected to grow about 6-7%, while diesel will rise about 4% in the next fiscal year, chairman of state-run oil giant Indian Oil said on the sidelines of India Energy Week.

The government's proposal to slash personal income tax rates in its annual budget has raised hopes of a consumption boost in the world's fifth-largest economy, which could possibly attract more people to buy cars.

State-run MRPL expects gasoline demand to grow 7-8%, while diesel is anticipated to grow 4%, the company's managing director Mundkur Shyamprasad Kamath said.

Energy consultancy FGE expects a rise of about 40,000 barrels per day to 950,000 bpd in 2025 in India's gasoline consumption, while diesel demand is expected to hold steady.

FGE estimates Asian overall gasoline supply to grow by around 150,000-160,000 bpd year-on-year in 2025 and demand to grow by around 100,000 bpd in 2025 due to addition of new refineries and expansion in China, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

This will translate to subdued gasoline margins, despite the boost in Indian demand, with analysts expecting cracks to peak at about $10-$11 per barrel over Dubai crude in Asia in the second-quarter of 2025 before slumping seasonally in the last two quarters.

While biofuels blending in transportation fuel has not caused any structural decline in gasoline consumption, India, one of the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, aims to increase the share of ethanol in gasoline to 20% by 2025-26, from about 18% now.

"With the developments around ethanol-blending in gasoline, our prediction is, motor spirit (demand) is likely to grow in the range of 2-3%, and diesel (demand) is expected to grow in the range of 4-6%, in the year to 2026" Sanjay Khanna, director of refineries at Bharat Petroleum said.

(Reporting by Mohi Narayan; editing by David Evans)

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will supply 2.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India's Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS under a new five year deal, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

Indian's state refiner will receive 40 cargos of LNG under the 5-year contract with supplies beginning from April, the sources said.

In the initial two years, supplies would be less and will be gradually ramped up, one of the sources said.

ADNOC will sign the deal with BPCL during the four-day India Energy Week conference, the sources said.

During the conference ADNOC will also sign sale purchase agreement with Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS for a 15 year LNG deal agreed in September last year, the sources said. Supplies under ADNOC's deal with IOC will begin from April next year.

"We do not comment on commercial negotiations," ADNOC said in an email response. BPCL and IOC did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking comments.

The world's fourth largest importer of LNG, India aims to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.2% now.

Indian companies are also looking at buying LNG from the United States, oil secretary Pankaj Jain said earlier on Monday.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by David Evans)

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Feb 3 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• BPCL, REFROID TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCH LIQUID COOLANT FOR AI-DRIVEN DATA CENTERS IN INDIA

Source text: ID:nPretT9CJa

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

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NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - India's state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS has awarded a 12-month tender to import 1 million barrels per month of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude oil from April to TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The deal comes as India refiners look for alternative sources of crude - mainly Middle Eastern grades - after traders stopped offering Russian oil due to stringent U.S. sanctions.

Washington earlier this month imposed sweeping sanctions targeting producers and tankers in the world's second biggest exporter, disrupting supply and tightening ship availability.

BPCL finalised the Murban tender at a discount to the grade's official selling price (OSP), one of the sources said.

Separately, the refiner also made a rare purchse of 1 million barrels of Ghana's low-sulphur Sankofa crude oil through a spot tender for March loading, the same source said

The price was not immediately available.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

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By Siyi Liu, Chen Aizhu and Nidhi Verma

SINGAPORE, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Trade for March-loading Russian oil in top buyer Asia has stalled as a wide price gap between buyers and sellers emerged in China after costs for chartering tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions jumped, according to traders and shipping data.

Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Jan. 10 targeting Russia's oil supply chain, causing tanker freight rates to soar as some buyers and ports in China and India steered clear of sanctioned ships.

Offers for March Russian ESPO Blend crude exported from the Pacific port of Kozmino jumped to premiums of $3-$5 a barrel to ICE Brent on a delivered ex-ship basis (DES) to China after freight rates for an Aframax tanker on the route surged by several million dollars, three traders familiar with the grade said.

Prior to the January sanctions, robust winter demand and firming prices for rival grades from Iran sent spot premiums for ESPO Blend crude to China rising to close to $2 a barrel, the highest since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, the aftermath of which had sent discounts to as deep as $6.

In India, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's BPCL.NS finance chief told Reuters last week that it has not received any new offers for March delivery, as it would ordinarily have, and expects the number of cargoes offered for March to drop from January and December.

India typically receives offers for Russian crude during the middle of each month.

Russian crude accounted for 36% of India's and nearly a fifth of China's 2024 imports.

The latest sanctions target tankers that carry about 42% of Russia's seaborne oil exports, primarily to China, according to analytics firm Kpler, although sanctioned tankers are gradually discharging oil in China and India during a waiver period.

The U.S. clarified to India that tankers loaded with Russian oil must discharge by Feb. 27 under the sanctions, India's oil secretary Pankaj Jain told reporters on Friday. Payments for oil onboard affected ships must be cleared by March 12, he added.

PORT DELAYS

In China, newly sanctioned tankers face delays offloading oil despite meeting waiver requirements. Three of them discharged Russian ESPO and Sokol crude during Jan. 15-17 while tanker Olia offloaded at Shandong's Yantai port on Sunday after carrying its ESPO cargo for nearly three weeks, according to LSEG data.

Tanker Huihai Pacific is still waiting to discharge at Tianjin after loading its ESPO cargo on Jan. 5 while Viktor Titov is heading to Qingdao after loading Sokol on Jan. 6, LSEG data showed.

In India, nine newly sanctioned tankers have discharged oil since Jan. 10, with several carrying Urals crude on the way, LSEG data showed.

U.S. sanctions and a ban imposed early this month by China's Shandong Port Group will see refineries in Shandong province losing up to 1 million barrels per day of crude supply in the near term, consultancy FGE said.

Independent refiners are cutting runs as alternative supply is more costly, it said, expecting 400,000 bpd run cuts by February.

Kpler senior analyst Xu Muyu expects China's imports of Russian Far East crude to remain low in coming weeks after falling to a six-month low of 717,000 bpd last week.

For India, FGE said the country faces disruptions in 450,000 bpd of Russian crude supply, but refiners are taking advantage of the wind-down period.

India has been experiencing lower Russian supply over December and January compared to the preceding six months.

Indian refiners have sought alternative supply from the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. for March and April as they expect Russian supply to tighten, Reuters has reported.

(Reporting by Florence Tan, Siyi Liu, Chen Aizhu in Singapore and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi
Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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By Nikunj Ohri and Sarita Chaganti Singh

NEW DELHI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pouring billions into ailing state-run firms after slowing ambitious divestment plans that were intended to reduce the role of the state in business, according to government sources and a document reviewed by Reuters.

Less than a month into 2025, New Delhi has plans to invest about $1.5 billion in financial rescue packages for two state-owned firms after failing to sell them to private companies.

It has also decided to put in "abeyance" privatisation of at least nine state-owned units after opposition from relevant ministries, according to a document that detailed recommendations of a government panel set up to identify privatisation candidates. The document, reviewed by Reuters, did not cite reasons for the decision.

The nine companies include Madras Fertilizers MDFT.NS, Fertilizer Corp of India, MMTC MMTC.NS and NBCC (India) NBCC.NS, the document showed.

Housing and Urban Development Corp HUDC.NS, that was also identified for privatisation, has now been 'exempted' implying it will not be sold, according to the document.

Among the state-owned companies being revived with government funding is helicopter operator Pawan Hans.

The government is planning to infuse around $230 million-$350 million in Pawan Hans to modernise its aging fleet of helicopters after four failed attempts to sell the company, two government sources said.

The amount of infusion is still being finalised as the options being considered for fleet modernisation include both outright acquisition and leasing, one of the sources said.

The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

India's finance and civil aviation ministries did not immediately reply to e-mails seeking comment on the privatisation plans or on the Pawan Hans investment.

The fund infusion in Pawan Hans and plans to halt the privatisation of nine firms have not been previously reported.

In 2021, Modi's government announced a major programme to privatise most of India's state-run companies. The plan was so drastic that even in the four sectors that India sees as sensitive, such as telecoms and banking, it wanted to keep only a minimum presence, while exiting from all other sectors.

But now it is planning rescue and revival plans for companies even outside the sensitive sectors.

Last week, the government announced a $1.3 billion plan to revive debt-laden steel producer Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL).

The government has also allocated 80 billion rupees in 2024/25 for bond repayments of state-run telco MTNL that has seen a series of defaults lately, according to budget documents for the current year.

PRIVATISATION SLOWDOWN

Four years since the privatisation policy was announced, the Modi government has had only three successes, out of which Air India's sale to the Tata Group was the largest. The other two were indirect holdings in steel-maker Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd to Tata Steel TISC.NS and Ferro Scrap Nigam to Konoike Transport Co 9025.T.

Other large sales have either been deferred or delayed.

The U-turn in policy was partly driven by the expectation that some large state-owned firms could be overhauled and made more profitable, helping the government earn dividend income, Reuters has reported previously.

Political pressures on Modi have increased after he came back to power in mid-2024 only with the help of regional allies, making it more difficult to overcome opposition to privatisation by employee unions fearing job losses.

The sale of state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS was rolled back in 2022 after failing to get suitors. The ongoing privatisation of Shipping Corp of India SCI.NS and BEML BEML.NS has been stuck for years due to complications over transfer of land holdings. The government has also been dragging its feet on the sale of a majority stake in IDBI Bank IDBI.NS.

In previous years, privatisation formed an important part of the government’s plan to reduce its budget gap. But with the federal fiscal deficit seen falling to a more comfortable 4.9% of GDP in the 2024-25 year, the fiscal push for divestment has waned.

New Delhi is expected to miss its internal stake sale target of 180 billion to 200 billion rupees in 2024-25 (April-March) for the sixth straight year. As of January, government has mopped up 86.25 billion rupees via stake sales in 2024/25.

($1 = 86.4250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nikunj Ohri and Sarita Chaganti Singh; Editing by Ira Dugal and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - India's state-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS sees its Russian oil processing down to 20% in March from 31% this month as it awaits offers from traders, its head of finance Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta told an analyst call on Thursday.

The company and other state refiners such as Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, Hindustan Petroleum HPCL.NS, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals MRPL.NS buy Russian oil in the spot market and the lack of clarity regarding its availability is forcing them to look for alternatives.

BPCL's Russian oil processing declined to 31% in December quarter from about 35-40% in the previous month. The company, along with other Indian state refiners, received a lower supply of Russian oil in January and February.

Gupta said lack of offers from traders for sale of Russian oil for March delivery could be 'temporary' as Russia has not cut its oil output.

Washington has imposed sweeping sanctions targeting Russian producers and tankers, disrupting supply from the world's No. 2 producer and tightening ship availability.

Gupta said his company meets 55% of its oil needs through annual contracts and up to 35% from the spot market.

Indian refiners buy Russian oil on a delivered basis, with seller arranging the tanker and insurance. "Pre condition is that they (traders) do not move crude in any of the sanctioned vessel," he added.

To make up for the shortfall, Indian refiners have floated tenders for oil imports and are purchasing grades such as Abu Dhabi's Murban grade.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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