Bharat Petroleum buys 1 million barrels of Argentinian crude oil for the first time | Company Business News

The state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has purchased its first crude oil cargo from Argentina in an effort to diversify the grades processed at its refineries, reported Reuters on Friday.

BPCL has bought the 1-million-barrel cargo of Medanito crude for February delivery from European trader Mercuria. The quality of the light-sweet grade oil is similar to US West Texas Intermediate crude, the report said, citing sources. The state-run refiner has purchased the cargo for trial processing at the refineries, it added.

However, neither BPCL nor Mercuria have given any confirmation of regarding the deal.

Livemint could not independently verify the report.

The Medanito grade oil was first delivered to the Asia Pacific region in October when 4,20,000 barrels were discharged at the Geelong refinery in Australia, the report said citing data from ship tracking company Kpler.

BPCL expansion plans

Earlier, the BPCL head of refining Sanjay Khanna said that the PSU plans to expand the refining capacity to 45 million tonnes per year by 2028 from 35.3 million currently, Reuters reported on December 17.

Accordingly, BPCL plans to increase the capacity of its Kochi refinery from 15.5 million tonnes per year to 18 million tonnes per year.

Additionally, the state-run refiner also plans to increase the capacity of its Mumbai refinery from 12 million tonnes per year to 16 million tonnes per year, Khanna added.

BPCL also expects to increase the capacity of its Bina refinery from 7.8 million tonnes per year to 11.3 million tonnes per year by May 2028.

Further, BPCL is looking for cheaper oil grades to improve profit margins and plans to test low sulphur grades from South America, including Argentina, Khanna said.

BPCL announced its July-September quarter results for fiscal 2024-25 (Q2FY25) on Friday, October 25. It reported a decline of almost 72 per cent in its standalone net profit to ₹2,397 crore from ₹8,501 crore in the same period last year amid fall in refinery margins and marketing margins, as Mint reported on October 25.