BPCL to Raise Kochi Refinery Capacity to 17 MMTPA, Deepens Petrochemical Integration Under Project Aspire
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) plans to expand the refining capacity of its Kochi Refinery in Kerala from 15.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 17 MMTPA, Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Khanna said, as the company looks to deepen refinery-petrochemical integration and expand its higher-value product portfolio. The announcement was made at BPCL's 73rd Annual General Meeting.
Khanna said the expansion, together with the ongoing polypropylene project at Kochi, would deepen refinery-petrochemical integration and broaden the company's portfolio of higher-value products, while strengthening operational flexibility to meet growing energy demand. The planned expansion follows a year in which BPCL's refineries recorded their highest-ever crude throughput of 41.2 million metric tonnes in FY2025-26, with capacity utilisation of 116.6%.
The Kochi expansion forms part of Project Aspire, BPCL's five-year strategic programme aimed at strengthening its core refining, marketing and upstream businesses while investing in future growth areas including petrochemicals, gas, green energy, non-fuel solutions and digital businesses.
Separately, at its Mumbai Refinery, BPCL is developing a Petro Resid Fluidized Catalytic Cracker project worth around ₹14,000 crore to replace two older process units. The project is intended to improve safety, reliability and operational efficiency, while enabling the refinery to process more high-sulphur crude and convert low-value residue into higher-value products.
BPCL is also advancing an integrated refinery expansion and petrochemical project at its Bina Refinery in Madhya Pradesh, continuing a broader push across its refining network to increase capacity and add downstream petrochemical capability.