BPCL upbeat on 'convenience stores'

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) expects 10 per cent of it gross profits to come from its convenience stores business in the future.

"At present, we have 250 'in and out convenience stores' across the country and another 400 such outlets will come up at our existing petroleum outlets by he end of this fiscal. Each outlet does business of between Rs 5,000 and Rs 30,000 per day," S Behuria, chairman and managing director, BPCL, told media persons while inaugurating an 'in and out' store, at Visakhapatnam.

BPCL, according to Behuria, would complete its refineries expansion programme by 2006-07.

"At present, our three refineries have a refining capacity of 19 million tonnes.We are expanding this capacity by another 5.5 million tonnes at a cost of around Rs 3,800 crore. After the expansion, the Bombay refinery's capacity will be enhanced by 3 million tonnes and the Cochin refinery's capacity will be increased by 2.5 million tonnes," Behuria said.

BPCL is going to invest around Rs 1,000-1,500 crore over the next five years for oil and gas exploration in three fields, he said.

"Out of our total 5,400 retail petroleum outlets in the country, 2,000 outlets were certified as 'pure for sure'. In a phased manner, the remaining outlets will also be certified," he said.