Venezuelan crude oil not easy to handle, will evaluate in due course: HPCL

Venezuelan crude oil has high viscosity and a high acid number, but it does provide us with some opportunities based on what is being offered, a senior Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) official told investors in a conference call on Thursday (January 22, 2026).

“Venezuelan crude apart from being bottom-heavy, also has high viscosity and high acid number,” Director for Refineries S. Bharathan at the Mumbai-headquartered company said, adding: “We will have some opportunities. We will evaluate as and when we can get offers and [we will] take it accordingly.”

Mr. Bharathan was responding to a query about seeing Venezuelan crude oil as an additional opportunity with the bottom-upgrade project in Vishakhapatnam being in place.

For clarity, higher viscosity is indicative of thick oil with resistance to flow while the acid number is used to determine the acidity and the chemical mix existing naturally in the oil.

Responding to the same question, Chairman and Managing Director of the State-run refiner Vikas Kaushal added that having crude from both the company’s Barmer refinery, which is into the final stages of commissioning, and potentially from Venezuela would provide “at least an opportunity to evaluate and see”.

“It is not an easy crude to handle but the fact that we have an asset gives us that opportunity,” he stated.

On Wednesday (January 21, 2026), the Mumbai-headquartered refiner had informed that consolidated net profit of the company rose by approximately 57.7% on a year-over-year basis to ₹4,011 crore in the December-end quarter fuelling an improvement in gross refining margins during the period.

At the time of writing, scrips were trading 1.1% lower at ₹427.85 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and about 1.35% lower at ₹427.70 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).