BP looks to boost India presence after board meet

New Delhi: Supermajor BP is looking to grow its business in India as it scouts for more opportunities in the world's fastest growing energy market, its top official said. BP board, after more than a decade, held its meetings in India during a five-day visit starting September 23 and went charmed. "They (BP board) know what we have done in India, the success we have had is what brings them here. Because they recognize the ability to create much more in India," said Sashi Mukundan, outgoing India head of BP group. "For me, it was very important that we needed to showcase India for them. And I can tell you all 12 of them have gone back saying, 'Oh, my God! What an experience'." BP has a century-long presence in India, having invested more than $12 billion across the energy value chain including oil and gas exploration and production, downstream fuel retailing and mobility solutions and renewables.

The main reason for bringing the board to India was to showcase the opportunities the world's third-biggest oil importer and consuming nation presents. "That was the main reason for bringing them to India. Because, you know, now when we take projects to them, when we take ideas to them, you know, they can understand (and) they connect the situation in India," Mukundan told. On the visit of the board, the company statement on Wednesday quoted CEO Murray Auchincloss, saying, "We see growing business opportunities, including through our world-class partnership with Reliance, producing the country's gas and growing our joint retail presence." The firm has in partnership with billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited in recent years brought on stream three new deepwater natural gas projects that account for one-third of India's gas production.

BP and Reliance have also created a retail, aviation fuels, and mobility alliance, Jio-bp, with nearly 1,900 retail sites and 5,000 charging points. Also, it sells lubricants through Castrol, does oil and gas trading, and clean energy projects through BP's solar power firm Lightsource BP, the third largest in the world outside of China. Mukundan said India presents a lot of opportunities across the value chain and BP is certainly interested in boosting presence in the country. "We had been talking about this (holding BP board meeting in India). And for me, before I stepped down, I said this is a fantastic opportunity to have them come out. What way to finish by having the board in India," he said. Mukundan will step down as Head of Country, India, BP Group, this week. Of his 43 year stint at BP, 13 were as India head.

The board of BP began a 5-day visit on September 23, holding board sub-committee meetings as well as meeting government leaders and business partners. It held its full board meeting on September 26. This is the second time that the BP board held its meeting in India. The company's board had visited India in May 2013, two years after the firm spent USD 7.2 billion in buying a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks of Reliance Industries Ltd. Just like 2013, the BP board met Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri over dinner on Tuesday evening, flew to Gadimoga in Andhra Pradesh for a visit to the landing point of gas produced from deepsea in Krishna Godavari basin, and dined by Ambani and other Reliance officials in Mumbai.

It also visited BP's global business services centre in Pune. In 2013, the BP board including the then chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and then CEO Bob Dudley dined with the then oil minister M Veerappa Moily and Ambani, visited their flagship KG-D6 fields in Bay of Bengal and called on the then President Pranab Mukherjee. Mukundan said he was asked about the importance of holding a board meeting in India by both Puri and Ambani. "What I told them was (that) these are distinguished foreign dignitaries who are coming to India as part of BP's board. So, what is important is that we need to send back 12 ambassadors for India," he said. The board knows the business and now India as well and when projects are presented for approvals, they would take decisions in that light.