download - Bharat Petroleum

Chairman & Managing Director's MessageDear StakeholdersThe 2011-12 fiscal year was both a challenging and an exciting one for BPCL. The key focus areas for thecompany remained to maximization of shareholder value and growth in regards with the industry, peopleand environment. We are part of an industry which impacts everyday public life, thus putting immenseresponsibility on us and we take this responsibility very seriously. Our vision and efforts were directedtowards serving customers, efficiently, in the remotest corners of the country. To meet these requirements,we indulged in constant improvement of our operations and ventured into new domains. All these aspectswere aligned with our Dream Plan and our Business Strategy and formed key part of our pursuits in 2011-12.Most of our stakeholders will be aware that a few years back we entered the upstream market in a smallcapacity. I am proud to share that we have achieved significant success in our endeavors since then. Theupstream segment is highly risky as it requires high financial investments without any certainty of returns,however at the same time it is highly profitable if discoveries are made. Keeping this in mind, we have beenjudicious in our investments, and at the same time fortunate in our discoveries. The gas discovery in ourMozambique exploration block, which may hold up to 100 trillion cubic feet of in-place reserves, is pitchedto be one of the biggest global gas discoveries of the 2010-11 and 2011-12 periods. Returns from this areexpected by 2017-18. The aim is that the upstream revenues should be able to drive upstream expansionwithout any undue stress on revenues from other operations. The Mozambique discovery will allow us toachieve the same. On the domestic front, the focus remained on and will continue to be on building gasinfrastructure to better manage this resource once the block starts generating.On the refining front, our refineries, owned, subsidiary or JVs, are strategically located in western, southern,eastern and central India to cater to the cross country market. 2011-12 saw our focus on expansion ofexisting refinery capacities, instead of constructing new refineries. However, if in the future, need is realizedfor the construction of green-field refinery, BPCL has already acquired land in the state of Uttar Pradesh,which can be utilized for this purpose. Technology-wise our refineries underwent numerous technologicalup gradations during the last year, with many state of art process system implementations. Bina Refinery, inthis regard, is capable of producing its entire stock in compliance with the Euro IV standards.3Sustainable Development Report 2011-12