NEW DELHI, Oct 7: BP CEO Murray Auchincloss will visit India this week for the third time in a year, accompanying UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his official trip – underscoring the super major’s growing focus on the Indian market.
Starmer will lead a delegation of more than 100 British business, academic and cultural leaders on his first official visit to India on October 8-9. The visit also assumes importance as it comes after the two of the world’s biggest economies signed a long-awaited free trade agreement.
The FTA was finalised during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in July.
Officials said business leaders accompanying the British Prime Minister included Auchincloss.
The BP CEO had led the company’s entire board on a visit to India in September last year. That was only the second time that the BP board held meetings in India. The first visit was in 2013, two years after BP acquired a 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries Ltd’s oil and gas blocks such as KG-D6 for USD 7.2 billion.
Auchincloss last visited India in April this year, soon after the super giant was inducted by state-owned ONGC as a technical service partner for ramping up output from the producing but ageing Mumbai High oil and gas fields.
His visits, an official explained, signifies the importance BP attaches to the country.
The company in partnership with Reliance is India’s biggest private natural gas producer. The two firms also have a fuel retailing and mobility joint venture that runs a network of petrol pumps, EV charging infrastructure and battery swapping stations.
It owns lubricant company Castrol and also has a global capability centre at Pune.
As part of its broader energy transition goals, BP is also exploring opportunities in green hydrogen, renewables, and carbon reduction technologies, positioning India as central to its low-carbon future.
BP’s latest Energy Outlook sees India’s oil demand rising more than those of any other country through 2050 on the back of its fast growing economy. India is projected to account for over 12 per cent of the global energy market by 2050, up from 7 per cent.
BP Chief Economist Spencer Dale and his deputy Gareth Ramsay are currently in India, discussing the Outlook with government officials and industry.
As part of that, they also met Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
“Discussed how oil and natural gas have been the bedrock of India’s industrial growth and modernization, giving 1.42 billion Indians access to modern energy services and as we look ahead to Amrit Kaal, the energy sector will play a pivotal role in achieving energy independence by 2047 a central pillar of Viksit Bharat under the leadership of PM Sh @narendramodi Ji during an invigorating interaction with leaders of the industry, academia & energy sector professionals at the BP Energy Outlook,” he said in a post on X.
He went on to state that the BP Chief Economist made a comprehensive presentation on global and India’s energy demand growth. “His presentation highlighted that India’s spectacular energy demand of next decade will require us to dramatically augment capacity in all forms of energy.”
“India is determined to enhance self-reliance in exploration and production. Samudra Manthan – National Deepwater Mission launched by PM Modi is a bold step toward frontier resources,” he added. (PTI)
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