Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a ‘Maharatna’ and Fortune Global 500 company, inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazilian oil business Petrobras on Saturday in a landmark event to diversify crude oil sourcing for energy security in India.

The signing of the MOU will boost future crude oil trading links between the two firms and allow BPCL to explore long-term crude import opportunities, especially given the current geopolitical environment.

The MoU was signed in Brazil by Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of BPCL, and Caio Paes de Andrade, CEO of Petrobras, in the presence of Pankaj Jain, Secretary of MoPNG, Indian Ambassador to Brazil, and other MoPNG officials.
Previously, on September 16, Mint reported that India was expected to ink long-term contracts to purchase at least 2 million tonnes (mt) of oil from Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and 1 mt from Columbia’s state-run Ecopetrol SA.

“Bharat PetroResources Limited (BPRL) intends to invest $1.6 billion in the development of an oil block in Brazil in order to obtain equity oil from abroad.” BPCL owns an upstream ownership in an ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon block in Brazil through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bharat PetroResources Limited.

The final investment decision and field development plan are scheduled to be announced soon. For the first time, India will sign a long-term supply agreement with Petrobras, one of the few global oil companies that is boosting output.