OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2011. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is planning to invest Rs 40,000 crores to venture into the niche petrochemical segment. With this, India's second biggest oil marketing company will diversify its business portfolio and de-risk its business model, as per a DNA report.

Talks are underway with several foreign players who might be interested in sharing technology with BPCL and picking up equity stake in the project. The investment will be done over the next five years which will help to strengthen company's current operations, expand its refining business, enable investment in exploration and production and diversification into newer areas such as petrochemicals.

The company will invest around Rs 5,000-6,000 crore in a complex which will be operational in the next five years, and produce polypropylene and acrylic acid. Feedstock will be supplied by BPCL's 9.5 mln tpa Kochi refinery which will also be expanded further to 15.5 mln tpa in the next five year period.