BPCL

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, May 2 (Reuters) - Indian fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS expects a net gain of $20 to $30 a metric ton on delivery of U.S. liquefied petroleum gas through swap deal with Middle Eastern suppliers, its head of finance said on Friday.

BPCL, India's second-biggest state refiner, is in talks with suppliers to swap contracted Middle Eastern cargo with U.S. supplies, Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta told analysts.

A U.S.-China tariff war has widened the price gap between Middle Eastern and U.S. LPG and upended trade routes.

China has imposed duties on goods from the U.S. in response to tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China.

"We are approaching suppliers. We see little bit of opportunity in terms of U.S. LPG. We are expecting a net benefit of $20 to $30 per ton," Gupta said.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co is also replacing some of the LPG it supplies India with cheaper U.S. cargo from June, Reuters reported.

Cheaper U.S. LPG will help BPCL offset some of the 6.5 billion to 7 billion rupees ($77 million to $83 million) monthly revenue loss it suffers on the local sale of the cooking fuel at below market rates.

Gupta said he hopes the federal government will introduce a quarterly compensate scheme for refiners that incur a revenue loss on LPG sales.

India sources more than 80% of its LPG from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, under annual contracts.

Gupta also said BPCL sees the share of Russian oil in crude processing at its three refineries rising to about 30% to 32% from 24% in January-March when U.S. sanctions disrupted supplies. He said BPCL is buying Russian crude at a discount of about $3 a barrel to Dubai benchmark.

BPCL is looking to build a refinery of either 180,000 barrels per day or 240,000 bpd in southern Andhra Pradesh state within four years of a final investment decision, which Gupta said he expects by the end of 2025.

($1 = 83.9850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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

(([email protected];;))

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

(([email protected];))

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)

(([email protected];))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

Corrects paragraph to show throughput fell 4.5%, not rose

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 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)

(([email protected] ; If within U.S. +1 646 223 8780;;))

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)

(([email protected];))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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)

(([email protected]; +1 832 610 7346; Twitter: @ArathySom;))

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

(([email protected];;))

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)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))

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)

(([email protected]; Twitter/X: @shariqrtrs; Office: (646) 261-7893;))

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)

(([email protected];))

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)

(([email protected]; https://twitter.com/_mohi_;))

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)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

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

(([email protected];;))

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)

(([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]; X: @nidhi712))

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)

(([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

Adds more details throughout

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Indian refiners' throughput in December rose 5.2% year-on-year to 5.64 million barrels per day (23.87 million metric tons), provisional government data showed on Monday.

India, which is the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, saw fuel demand rising to a seven-month high in December, while crude oil imports rose to the highest level in four months.

Earlier this month, the U.S. imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia's oil and gas revenue, in an effort to give Kyiv and Donald Trump's administration leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine.

"It may last a few months until alternate supply or alternate vessels are figured out by either Russia or Indian refiners," Prashant Vasisht, vice president and co-head of corporate ratings at ICRA, said.

"Indian refineries so far benefited from discounted Russian barrels, so it comes down to what happens to Russian flows going forward," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

The share of Middle East oil in India's oil imports last month rose to a 22-month high of nearly 52% as refiners turned to the region to make up for the short supply of Russian oil, data showed.

Meanwhile, middlemen supplying Russian oil are not offering cargoes due to the new U.S. sanctions, according to the finance chief of Bharat Petroleum.

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 Rashmi Aich)

(([email protected] ; If within U.S. +1 646 223 8780;;))

Jan 23 (Reuters) - BHARAT PETROLEUM CORPORATION EXECUTIVE BPCL.NS:

• SEES CUT IN RUSSIAN OIL AVAILABILITY TO 20% FOR MARCH FOR BPCL

• SEES GLOBAL OIL PRICES IN RANGE OF $75-$80 PER BBL

• SCOUTING FOR LONG TERM LNG DEALS

• LOOKING AT 9-12 MTPA REFINERY IN ANDHRA PRADESH

• SEEING A GROSS CAPEX OF 950 BLN RUPEES FOR ANDHRA PRADESH REFINERY

• SEES RUSSIAN OIL FLOWS SMOOTHENING AFTER 2-3 MONTHS

• SEES IMPACT OF LOWER AVAILABILITY OF CHEAPER RUSSIAN OIL ON PROFITS

• BUYS 55% OIL NEEDS THROUGH ANNUAL CONTRACTS, 33-35% FROM SPOT MARKETS

• TO SPEND 100 BLN RUPEES FOR RENEWABLE BUSINESS IN NEXT 2 YRS

• RUSSIAN CRUDE SUPPLIES COMING DOWN AFTER US SANCTIONS

• IMPACT OF US SANCTIONS ON GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN IS YET TO BE ASSESSED

(([email protected];))

MOSCOW, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Urals crude differentials to dated Brent kept steady on Wednesday as middlemen supplying Russian oil were not offering cargoes due to new U.S. sanctions targeting Russian producers and vessels, according to the finance chief at Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum.

India has allowed Russian insurer Soglasie Insurance Company to provide marine cover to tankers entering Indian ports, according to Indian ship regulator's website, as New Delhi wants steady supply of cheaper Russian oil despite latest U.S. sanctions.

Under the former Biden administration, the U.S. Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, targeting the revenues Moscow has used to fund its war with Ukraine.

PLATTS WINDOW

• No bids or offers were shown for Urals, Azeri BTC or CPC Blend in the Platts window on Wednesday.

NEWS

• Kazakhstan plans to supply up to 127,000 tonnes of oil to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline in January, Russia's Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Kazakh oil pipeline operator KazTransOil.

• TABLE - Russian Urals crude primary allocations in January 2025.

  
  

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Recasts, adds BPCL's tender in paragraphs 6-9

By Nidhi Verma and Florence Tan

NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Indian refiners Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd (MRPL) MRPL.NS and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) BPCL.NS issued tenders this week seeking crude oil, trade sources said on Tuesday, after harsher U.S. sanctions disrupted Russian supply.

The tenders come more than a week after Washington announced sweeping sanctions targeting Russian producers and tankers, disrupting supply from the world's No. 2 producer and tightening ship availability.

MRPL issued its first crude import tender in more than a year, seeking offers of 1 million or 2 million barrels on a cost and freight (C&F) or a delivered at port (DAP) basis to be delivered on Feb. 16-28, according to the notice and sources.

The notice did not specify which crude grades were sought but the sources said MRPL is open to offers of both sweet and sour crude.

The tender will close on Jan. 23 with bids valid on the same day.

Separately, BPCL is seeking 12 million barrels of Abu Dhabi's flagship Murban crude oil in an annual tender, the sources said.

The refiner plans to buy 1 million barrels of the light sour crude per month from April 2025 to March 2026, they said.

Technical bids are due later this week, while commercial bids will be submitted next week, one of the sources said.

Another source said BPCL bought 8 million barrels of Murban and 4 million barrels of Oman in its previous annual tender.

The companies typically do not comment on commercial deals.

Late last week, top Indian refiner Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS purchased 7 million barrels of Middle Eastern and African crude via tenders.

Separately, Indian state refiners have asked Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) to offer pricing of its crude on a delivered basis to manage costs, three refining sources said on Monday.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Florence Tan; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Janane Venkatraman and Savio D'Souza)

(([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

By Florence Tan, Siyi Liu, Chen Aizhu and Nidhi Verma

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Chinese and Indian refiners are scouring the globe for supplies of crude as fresh U.S. sanctions on Russian producers and tankers curb shipments to Moscow's top customers, traders said.

The U.S. Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers Gazprom Neft SIBN.MM and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, as it targets the revenues Moscow has used to fund its war with Ukraine.

Many of the tankers have been used to ship oil to India and China as Western sanctions and a price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some tankers have also shipped oil from Iran, which is also under sanctions.

On Monday, China reiterated its opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions.

The measures have disrupted the trade in sanctioned oil, pushing Chinese and Indian refiners back to sellers of non-sanctioned oil, tightening supply and driving up spot premiums for crude produced in the Middle East to Africa and Brazil, traders said.

Over the weekend, new Chinese refiner Yulong Petrochemical bought 4 million barrels of Abu Dhabi's Upper Zakum crude loading in February and March from Totsa, the trading arm of French energy major TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, traders said.

The cargoes are for its 400,000 barrel per day refining complex in Yantai, eastern Shandong province, which started trial runs in September.

Yulong, which has previously bought Russian ESPO Blend crude, has purchased Angolan and Brazilian crude in recent weeks, traders said, and is now in talks to buy more oil from West Africa as well as Canada.

The refiner purchased 2 million barrels of Angolan Girassol and Nemba crude and also 2 million barrels of Brazilian Buzios and Tupi crude, they said.

The sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media. Yulong and Totsa typically do not comment on commercial deals.

Indian refiners which bought spot Middle East crude last week before the sanctions were announced, are still looking for more cargoes, more traders said.

India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd BPCL.NS bought 2 million barrels of February-loading Oman crude from Totsa via a tender last week, two people familiar with the matter said.

The strength of the demand is helping Totsa offload an overhang of Middle East crude supplies after it amassed cargoes via S&P Global Platts' trading platform in the past four months, traders said.

Global Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose above $81 a barrel to their highest since August during Monday's trade. O/R

Spot premiums for Middle East benchmark grades jumped more than 70% to about $3 a barrel on Monday, traders said, reaching their highest since October 2023. CRU/M

The premiums for sweet grades have also risen, with Brazilian crude for March delivery transacting at premiums of more than $3 a barrel to dated Brent last week, up about $2 from levels seen in early December, one of the traders said.

"The biggest disruptions will be on shipping," a trading executive involved in the Russian oil business said, adding that complications could arise if a ship is owned or managed by companies that are involved in operations of sanctioned tankers.

The market is likely to see a growing number of middlemen marketing oil from sanctioned producers, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, while there will be more payments in Chinese yuan via China's Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), the executive said.

Also included on Friday's sanction document were two Chinese oil logistics firms -- Shandong United Energy Pipeline Transportation Co Ltd and Guangrao Lianhe Energy Pipeline Conveyor Co -- both based in eastern China's Shandong province, a refining hub and China's top destination for sanctioned oil.

As these companies mostly transport oil from storage tanks to domestic refiners with payments in Chinese yuan, there would be little impact from the sanctions, the trading executive added.

(Reporting by Florence Tan, Siyi Liu and Chen Aizhu in Singapore, and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Trixie Yap in Singapore and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

(([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd BPCL.NS:

• BOARD APPROVES MNGL IPO IN PRINCIPLE

Source text: ID:nBSE6ByVfd

Further company coverage: BPCL.NS

(([email protected];;))

By Nidhi Verma and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - State-run Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS is buying Middle Eastern crude to make up for less supply of cheaper Russian oil, its head of finance Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta said in a recent interview.

Indian state refiners, which typically buy Russian oil in the spot market rather than under long-term contract, are unable to procure about 8 million to 10 million barrels of crude for January loading that they have previously seen available in the market, sources said earlier this month.

India became a top buyer of Russian seaborne oil after the European Union shunned purchases and imposed sanctions on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian oil accounts for more than one-third of India's energy imports as the country has sought to take advantage of discounts on the crude.

BPCL is not getting its full Russian oil supply from the spot market, Gupta told Reuters in an interview on Dec. 26.

"There may be a shortage of two to three cargoes per month ... whatever is the shortage of Russian crude, we are purchasing that from Middle East only," he said, adding that its recent purchases included Omani oil.

Russian oil makes up about 35% to 37% of the crude BPCL processes at its three refineries, which have a combined capacity of 706,000 barrels per day (bpd), he said.

"Next year if there is any major impact on Russian supplies, we will explore more sources including WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude or Middle Eastern crudes, whichever is cheaper," Gupta said.

Russian oil exports have fallen as domestic demand is rising and as Moscow has to meet output quotas under its pact with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The country's output is also set to decline in 2024 from last year, the Interfax news agency reported on Dec. 5.

Additionally, Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM has signed a deal with Indian private refiner Reliance to supply 500,000 bpd of crude for 10 years starting in 2025. That contract will account for about half of the company's exports, reducing the supply available for other traders.

BPCL is constantly diversifying its oil sources and buys about 53% of its supply through term deals. It recently bought Argentinian crude for the first time, he said.

For the fiscal year 2025/26, BPCL plans to lift 10,000 bpd of crude oil from Qatar under an annual deal while keeping contracts with other term suppliers intact, Gupta said.

INVESTMENT PLANS

BPCL plans to invest 1.7 trillion rupees ($19.94 billion) in the five years to 2028/29, with half of that met through debt, Gupta said.

The company has already tied up about 320 billion rupees of loans with Indian banks for the expansion of its Bina refinery in central India, he added.

BPCL will refinance 40 billion to 50 billion rupees in loans next year and would go for external borrowings in 2026/27, when it plans major investments, Gupta said.

He added that more interest rate cuts are required by the U.S. to make overseas borrowing attractive.

BPCL has foreign debt of $2 billion at the group level that include investment in overseas exploration projects.

It will invest 250 billion rupees for the development of its oil and gas projects in Mozambique and Brazil in the next five years, Gupta said.

($1 = 85.2540 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]/))

Repeats story from Thursday with no changes to text

By Nidhi Verma and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - India's Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS 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.

India wants to emerge as a major refining hub supplying fuel to the global markets as Western companies are cutting crude processing capacities in favour of energy transition.

"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.

India aspires to be a developed nation by 2047 with its GDP rising to $30 trillion from the current $3.8 trillion.

BPCL has started pre-project work including land purchase to build at least a 9 million metric ton per year (tpy) refinery and ethylene cracker in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

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

The company operates three refineries in India with combined capacity of 35.3 million tpy. It also buys fuels from a 3 million tpy Numaligarh refinery in the northeast.

Krishnakumar said about 80% output from the proposed Andhra complex will be sold in southern India that houses petchem developers and automobile makers.

Indian refiners are raising petrochemical productions as the nation's per capita consumption is set to rise with increased manufacturing.

BPCL is also exploring setting up a refinery in a joint venture with state-run exploration company Oil and Natural Gas Corp ONGC.NS in northern Uttar Pradesh state, while pushing for clean energy goals, he said.

Refining expansion will help BPCL cut its dependence on fuel purchases from other companies, as it buys a fifth of 50 million tpy of refined fuels sold through its retails stations.

Krishnakumar said BPCL will aggressively bid for renewable projects tendered by the government and could acquire companies to meet its target of 10 Gigawatts clean energy projects by 2035.

It has announced a joint venture with Sembcorp SEMB.NS to expand its renewable energy portfolio of 300 megawatts.

Krishnakumar hoped that the operations at the $20 billion Mozambique liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, led by France's TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, would start in the first quarter of 2025 with monetisation of gas in 2028-29.

BPCL along with other Indian companies hold 30% stake in Mozambique project.

($1 = 85.2540 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

By Nidhi Verma and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - India's Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS 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.

India wants to emerge as a major refining hub supplying fuel to the global markets as Western companies are cutting crude processing capacities in favour of energy transition.

"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.

India aspires to be a developed nation by 2047 with its GDP rising to $30 trillion from the current $3.8 trillion.

BPCL has started pre-project work including land purchase to build at least a 9 million metric ton per year (tpy) refinery and ethylene cracker in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

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

The company operates three refineries in India with combined capacity of 35.3 million tpy. It also buys fuels from a 3 million tpy Numaligarh refinery in the northeast.

Krishnakumar said about 80% output from the proposed Andhra complex will be sold in southern India that houses petchem developers and automobile makers.

Indian refiners are raising petrochemical productions as the nation's per capita consumption is set to rise with increased manufacturing.

BPCL is also exploring setting up a refinery in a joint venture with state-run exploration company Oil and Natural Gas Corp ONGC.NS in northern Uttar Pradesh state, while pushing for clean energy goals, he said.

Refining expansion will help BPCL cut its dependence on fuel purchases from other companies, as it buys a fifth of 50 million tpy of refined fuels sold through its retails stations.

Krishnakumar said BPCL will aggressively bid for renewable projects tendered by the government and could acquire companies to meet its target of 10 Gigawatts clean energy projects by 2035.

It has announced a joint venture with Sembcorp SEMB.NS to expand its renewable energy portfolio of 300 megawatts.

Krishnakumar hoped that the operations at the $20 billion Mozambique liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, led by France's TotalEnergies TTEF.PA, would start in the first quarter of 2025 with monetisation of gas in 2028-29.

BPCL along with other Indian companies hold 30% stake in Mozambique project.

($1 = 85.2540 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

(([email protected]; +91 11 49548031; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))