Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is aiming big to expand its footprint in clean fuel space and looking to set up an infrastructure to tap the growing market for electric and gas-based mobility, an official said on Tuesday. The oil retailer is planning to increase the share of clean fuel in its annual sales and also working on the installation of battery-swapping and charging stations for electric vehicles.
“There is a shift towards clean gas usage. Sales of gas-based fuel account for 1.5 per cent but we aspire to take this to 15 per cent in the next four to five years,” BPCL executive director (Retail) PS Ravi said.
The company has already 5 CNG stations operational in West Bengal one in Kolkata and four in Durgapur, he said.
Ravi said the petroleum major is also carrying out trial runs for battery-swapping centres in Cochin and Lucknow, and once this business model is established, it would be launched in Bengal. He was speaking at a virtual media interaction at the inauguration of BPCL’s revamped Budge Budge storage installation and multi-product pipeline from Haldia jetty to its coastal facility.
Revamped at a cost of Rs 167 crore, the Budge Budge facility helps double the storage capacity to 47,000 KL for diesel and petrol. A multiproduct pipeline from Haldia Jetty to its facility there was built at an investment of Rs 97 crore and it also commenced operation.
