Essar Oil to double petrol pumps to 2,500

Essar Oil (ESSAROIL.NS : 138.85 -3.55), India’s largest private fuel retailer, plans to nearly double its petrol pumps to 2,500 by March 2011, group Chairman Shashi Ruia said on Thursday.

“We are expanding our petroleum retail business… we are going to increase (number of petrol pumps) to 2,500 by next fiscal (end),” Ruia said at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Press Trust of India, organised by the Federation of PTI Employees’ Union.

Essar currently sells petrol and diesel produced at its 280,000 barrels per day refinery at Vadinar in Jamnagar district of Gujarat through 1,293 petrol pumps.

Fuel from the company’s outlets in Gujarat are priced almost at par with public sector who get Government subsidy for selling petrol and diesel at rates lower than the imported coast.

In the remaining states, Essar sell petrol at Rs 2-4.5 a litre higher than those of state-run Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL.NS : 583 +2.95) while diesel is priced at least a rupee more.

Besides Gujarat, Essar has petrol pumps in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.

Ruia said expansion of retail network would help the company sell increased production of fuel especially diesel at Vadinar refinery.

Essar is expanding the non-fuel retail activities at its outlets and plans to dispense CNG and Auto LPG from the outlets this year.

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