bp Plc meets in India, reflects confidence in country's opportunities

The board of global energy giant bp plc is holding its meeting in India in signs of its commitment to and confidence in opportunities in the country, the firm said on Wednesday.

"The 5-day visit of the bp board reflects bp's significant and growing presence in India and its commitment to further develop its businesses in and with the country," it said in a statement.

Recognising India's key role in global energy demand, during their visit the board will also hold meetings with the Indian government and bp's business partners, as well as visiting key bp India locations.

The statement, however, did not elaborate on the meetings or the venue of the board meeting.

Meeting Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri, bp chair Helge Lund commented, "bp is committed to working closely with the government of India to support its changing energy needs. By leveraging our combined experience and expertise with our partners, we aim to facilitate the secure, affordable, and lower carbon growth of India's energy resources to meet the increasing demand".

bp chief executive Murray Auchincloss added: "There is huge potential for bp to work even more closely with India. We see growing business opportunities, including through our world-class partnership with Reliance (Industries Ltd), producing the country's gas and growing our joint retail presence. In turn, India's highly skilled engineering and scientific talent can help us deliver our targets more effectively, efficiently and rapidly."

Kartikeya Dube, bp's Head of Country said, "India is an important part of bp's strategy as we transform into an integrated energy company. Building on the century-old legacy with India through our Castrol brand, our presence across the gas value chain, mobility retail businesses and our global business and technology centre, we expect to grow a material business here, and help support India's aspiration for energy independence by 2047."

bp is one of the largest international energy companies in India, with a century-long business presence and having invested over $12 billion across the energy value chain in the country.

It has in partnership with Reliance brought onstream three new deepwater natural gas projects that account for a third of India's gas production. bp and Reliance have also joined hands to create a major retail, aviation fuels and mobility alliance, Jio-bp, now with close to 1,900 retail sites across the country and over 4,900 charging points.

bp's activities in India also include Castrol lubricants, oil and gas trading, and clean energy projects.