IOC to expand JV with Petronas in India
The Indian company could move sites to the joint venture to make them more flexible and adaptable.
India’s oil giant Indian Oil Corporation could sell a part of its 32,300 gas stations to its joint venture with Malaysia’s Petronas as they look to improve their retail business.
IOCL chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya explained the 50-50 joint venture is planning to launch its own brand for fuel retail in Indian. Both companies will expand the cooperation beyond natural gas to include the marketing of petrol and diesel.
Moving sites from its own hands to IndianOil Petronas Pvt Ltd (IPPL) would allow for more flexibility, adding dynamism to the portfolio. IPPL will not operate under the the tedious petrol station allotment rules that require public sector OMCs to appoint dealers through a draw of a lottery.
"We have all options open - IPPL can set up new retail outlets, it can set up wayside amenities (at petrol pumps on National Highways) and we can also monetise some of our existing retail outlets by selling them to the joint venture," said S K Gupta at an investor call.
According to rating agency Icra Ltd, India’s petrol and diesel consumption is expected to rise 14% and 10%, respectively, in FY22.
IOC has the biggest network in India with 32,303 petrol stations out of 77,709 petrol stations in the country. It is followed by BPCL with 18,766 petrol pumps and HPCL with 18,776.
