BP explores new opportunities in India, to host board meeting

ENERGY giant BP said on Wednesday that its board is holding a meeting in India this week as it looks for more business opportunities in the country.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, has been working to increase its oil and gas production, which has remained stagnant for several years.

In June, the Indian government stated that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country’s top exploration company, was in discussions with a global oil major for a technical partnership to boost output from its Mumbai High fields located offshore.

“We see growing business opportunities, including through our world-class partnership with Reliance, producing the country’s gas and growing our joint retail presence,” BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said in a statement on Wednesday.

The BP board, which is on a five-day visit to India, met with the country's oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday.

“The robust partnership between the global energy major and India, spanning the entire energy value chain including exploration, production, biofuels, and fuel retail, will continue to expand,” Puri said in a post on the social media platform X.

BP and Reliance Industries operate 1,900 fuel retail stations in India and produce oil and gas from a deepwater block in the Krishna-Godavari basin off India’s eastern coast.

The Reliance-BP partnership has also teamed up with ONGC to bid for exploration rights for an offshore block, according to the directorate general of Hydrocarbons' website.

"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 Chairman Helge Lund said.

(Reuters)