India’s BPCL secures funding for Bina refinery expansion, petrochemical project

MUMBAI (ICIS)–State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) has secured loans worth Indian rupee (Rs) 318.0 billion ($3.7 billion) for its refinery expansion and petrochemical project at its Bina site in the central Madhya Pradesh state.

The company signed an agreement with a consortium of six lenders led by state-owned State Bank of India (SBI) for the loan, it said in a bourse filing on 17 January.

In addition to SBI, the consortium of lenders includes Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of India, and Export-Import Bank of India.

The loan amount accounted for about 65% of the total project cost of Rs489.3 billion.

The project will increase the refinery’s capacity by more than 41% to 11 million tonnes/year.

It will also include a petrochemical complex comprising a 1.2 million tonnes/year ethylene cracker unit and will have units to produce downstream petrochemical products including linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), high density PE (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), bitumen, benzene as well as gasoline, diesel and aviation turbine fuel.

The company expects to commission the project by the fiscal year ending March 2028.

Once operational, the new complex will significantly reduce India’s dependence on petrochemical imports, BPCL chairman and managing director G Krishnakumar said.

In August 2024, BPCL chose US-based Lummus to provide technologies for the ethylene cracker and downstream units at the Bina complex.

($1 = Rs86.52)