bp board meets in India reflecting importance of the country

New Delhi: The board of global energy giant bp plc is holding its meeting in India, reflecting the importance of the country and its confidence in the opportunities it presents, the firm said on Wednesday.

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. In between, it will hold its full board meeting.

This is the second time that the bp board is holding its meeting in India. The firm'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 will meet partner Reliance Industries officials in Mumbai. It will also visit 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 partner Reliance Industries officials including chairman Mukesh Ambani, visited their flagship KG-D6 fields in Bay of Bengal and called on the then President Pranab Mukherjee.

"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," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

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.

On 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 USD 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 through Lightsource bp.

"India's highly-skilled talent pool also offers huge potential for bp, with a global business and technology centre in Pune that will support bp's businesses worldwide," the company said in the statement.

Puri also posted on X about his meeting with the bp board.

"Delighted to host the entire board of @bp_plc cover dinner at my residence," he said. "I am sure that the robust partnership between the global energy major and India which spans across the entire energy value chain including exploration & production, biofuels, fuel retail & other emerging areas will continue to grow further. It was remarkable that all the members of the board were distinguished leaders from different walks of life and the board had a strong presence of empowered and accomplished women."