Indian state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) expects to restart operations of its long-delayed Mozambique LNG project by July, 2025, Director Finance, VRK Gupta said on Friday, speaking to local media at the company’s results presentation.
“In a positive development for BPCL, US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), which undertook the largest project financing commitment of $4.7 bill, is to continue its participation in the project.
“This action is intended to facilitate full restart and force majeure resolution not later than by July, 2025,” the company said. The project is expected to be completed by July, 2028.
Work stopped in March, 2021, when the operator, French energy giant, TotalEnergies, declared force majeure following attacks by Islamic State terrorists.
Three Indian oil companies - ONGC Videsh, BPCL, and Oil India - together hold a total of 30% stake in the project, while BPRL Ventures Mozambique, a subsidiary of BPCL, holds 10% stake.
In addition, the company said it was working on a detailed feasibility report for Mozambique LNG and expected the final investment decision (FID) to be completed by the end of December this year.
For the current financial year 2025/26, BPCL has a planned capex of Rs20,000 crore of which Rs17,200 crore will be a direct investment, while the remainder would be equity investment through its joint ventures.
For 2026/27, the company earmarked Rs25,000 crore as capex, followed by Rs30,000 crore in 2027/28.
“All these major capex investments will go for City Gas Distribution business, petrochemicals and expansion in Mozambique and Brazil,” the company said.
BPCL also reported an 8% consolidated net profit fall for the last quarter of the financial year 2024/25 dropping to Rs4,391.83 crore from Rs4,789.57 crore in the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The profit decline was attributed to weaker gross refining margins and under recoveries made on the sale of LPG. On a sequential basis, however, the net profit increased by 15.4% from Rs3,805.94 crore in 3QFY25, BPCL said.
