Both Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil have already indicated their interest in exploration and production while BPCL has continued to maintain that it will focus on its strengths - refining and marketing.

Sundararajan, however, said that his company was evaluating the prospects of entering into a joint venture for petrochemicals. This, he added, made a lot of sense given that there was excess naphtha produced in refining which could be put to good commercial use.

The BPCL chief said that with the opening up of the petroleum sector, every member of the family realised that much more needed to be done as there were weaknesses to be addressed. "We appreciate that to succeed in a deregulated scenario, we haveto build on our relationship with the consumer.....we must become market-sensitive. In fact, the complete organisation needs to be aligned to understand and meet the needs and expectations of our customers," Sundararajan said.

A restructuring exercise recommended by Arthur D Little and ICICI has led to creation of six strategic business units. Each of these units has created a vision for the business, which Sundararajan said, acts as a motivator for better performance. "More than anything else, the exercise has triggered a culture of change within the organisation. Tremendous amount of latent energy has been realised and enthusiasm levels are the highest ever," he said.

In his presentation to the media, director (finance) Ashok Sinha said that BPCL's capex for the ninth plan was estimated at Rs 6,880 crore of which Rs 1,656 crore comprised equity. On the changing scene in the market place with deregulation having kicked off, he said that vital aspects in the retail segment include shifts in dealerloyalty, entry of multinationals and pressure on retail margins.

Strategic initiatives to counter this would call for setting up new generation retail outlets, more training for personnel, site security and customer loyalty. Sinha said that the consolidation seen in lubricants some years ago could be repeated in petroproducts after deregulation.

During 1997-98, BPCL reported a sales turnover of Rs 20,698 crore, achieving a growth of 3.83 per cent which was higher than the industry growth of 3.57 per cent. The company's market share has moved up from 15.3 per cent during 1976 to 20.5 per cent in 1997-98.