London U.K.- based oil company BP plc will partner with India’s Reliance Industries Limited to jointly set up as many as 2,000 gas stations (“petrol pumps”) in India over the next three years. On his visit to India, Bob Dudley, CEO, BP said, “Our partnership with Reliance is great, we just got to get the right sort of terms here with retailing.”
India’s fuel demand is growing and has attracted attention from foreign fuel retailers seeking to gain a foothold in a country where fuel retailing is dominated by state-run companies. Currently, Reliance, Essar Oil and Shell India together have just 10 percent of the fuel retail market, according to analysts.
To get a license to retail auto fuel in India, a company needs to invest a minimum of $300 million in exploration or production, refining, gas or product pipeline, or terminals. RIL has licenses to open 5,000 petrol pumps in India and plans to double its 6 percent market share in the fuel retail segment.
BP and RIL are planning to set up their retail outlets on the national highways as these are an underserved segment in the country.
