Addressing shareholders at BPCL’s 73rd Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Khanna said volatility would remain a feature of the energy industry, making a more diversified and resilient business increasingly important.
“BPCL is not merely adapting to the future of energy. We are shaping it,” Khanna said.
What are BPCL’s five priorities?
The first is to make BPCL’s existing businesses more competitive. The company also wants to improve the customer experience across its operations and execute major projects with greater focus on safety, speed and capital discipline.
Its fourth priority is to turn petrochemicals, gas, CBG, renewable energy and digital businesses into meaningful growth engines, reducing its reliance on traditional fuels over time.
Finally, BPCL plans to invest more in its workforce, research and partnerships to build capabilities for the longer term.
The strategy reflects the balancing act facing India’s oil companies: their traditional petrol, diesel and refining businesses remain crucial, even as they prepare for an energy market in which gas, petrochemicals and cleaner sources of power play a larger role.
Volatile crude prices remain a challenge
The push for greater diversification comes against a difficult backdrop for the oil business.
Khanna said elevated crude prices caused by geopolitical tensions in West Asia and squeezed fuel-marketing margins weighed on BPCL’s performance in the first quarter of FY27.
He said the company had kept marketing margins compressed to serve a broader national purpose.
With crude prices and refining and marketing margins capable of swinging sharply, Khanna said short-term volatility was likely to remain part of the industry.
BPCL, however, sees India’s growing appetite for energy as a longer-term opportunity. Rising fuel and petrochemical consumption, expanding gas infrastructure and the emergence of new green-energy markets could provide additional avenues for growth, he said.
The company believes its nationwide customer network, integrated operations, project-execution capabilities, research operations, digital platforms and balance sheet give it a base from which to pursue these opportunities.
BPCL steps up biogas and renewable push
One area where BPCL is expanding is compressed biogas, which can be produced from agricultural, municipal and other organic waste and used as an alternative to conventional natural gas.
The company plans to establish 26 CBG plants over the next two years. It has already approved 19 projects under its own investment programme, with combined capacity of about 50,000 tonnes a year.
BPCL is also expanding its renewable-energy portfolio.
The company commissioned a 71 MW solar project at Prayagraj, taking its installed renewable capacity to 251 MW.
Another 100 MW of wind projects are under development in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. BPCL has also secured a separate 100 MW wind project through a competitive bidding process conducted by the Madhya Pradesh government.
Fuel retail business continues to expand
Even as BPCL builds newer businesses, its traditional fuel-retailing network continues to grow.
The company expanded its network to 25,323 retail outlets during FY26 and maintained a 27.3% share of the market among public-sector oil marketing companies, Khanna said.
BPCL is also adding employees as it prepares for its next phase of expansion.
The company inducted more than 682 officers during FY26 and another 672 during the first quarter of FY27. Khanna described it as one of BPCL’s largest talent additions in recent years and said the new hires would help strengthen its future leadership pipeline.
The company is also expanding training across technical, managerial and digital areas and increasing the use of data in managing its workforce.
For BPCL, the five-point roadmap is ultimately about preparing for two energy markets at once: remaining competitive in oil and fuels today while building businesses that could become more important as India’s energy mix changes.
BPCL shares closed at ₹320.45 on Thursday, up 0.77%.
