Rs 10,000-crore BPCL warchest for Mozambique

State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is set to invest over Rs 10,000 crore in the next four years at Mozambique in Africa for monetization of its gas finds there, said Chairman & Managing Director R K Singh late on Friday.

He said steps are being taken in Mozambique for putting up a two train LNG plant of 5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) capacity each to achieve early monetization.

Addressing the company's post-AGM press conference in Mumbai, the BPCL chief said Mozambique was one of the discoveries in the current year along with 13 other exploration blocks where BPCL's wholly-owned subsidiary Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL) plans to carry out investments in the range of Rs 42,000 crore-Rs 45,000 crore in the next five years.

He did not foresee problems in raising investment for the E&P (Exploration and Production) plans. "We don't even need to leverage our (BPCL) balance-sheet for funding it," he affirmed.

To a related query, Singh said, "We have developed the financing model in consultation with our bankers to generate loans with moratorium."

Dwelling on the Kochi Refinery project, Singh said the company proposes a total outlay of Rs 20,000 crore, which will increase the refinery capacity from the present 9.5 mmtpa to 15.5 mmtpa and modernise the facilities to produce fuels conforming to Euro IV & V specifications. "It (expansion) will change the whole complexion of the project and also diversify into the petrochemical sector to produce niche products that were currently being imported," he said.

BPCL recorded sales of Rs 2,22,500.47 crore in fiscal 2012 while net profit declined to Rs 1,311 crore from Rs 1,547 crore in 2010-11.

Singh said that diesel prices, though increased last week by Rs 5 per litre, would yield oil companies only Rs 3.50 per litre as excise duty accounts for Rs 1.50 per litre.