Unveiled: Petrol Pumps Of The Future

[Arun 795]

Times News Network, FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2004

How about a petrol station spread over 4 acres of land! Right outside Ahmedabad on the expressway linking the city to Vadodra, Reliance Industries is setting up a 'Rest Area', which will not only house a petrol station, but also have a parking lot for 30 trucks and 30 cars each, a rest house with AC and non-AC rooms, and at least four restaurants serving some of the best cuisines of the country.

Refilling you car would become that much more re-feeling. Reliance, the biggest corporate house in the country, has plans to set up 2,000 petrol stations by 2005 March, of which 555 are expected by August, say sources.

The petrol stations inside the cities may not be very different from what the IOCs, Hindustan Petroleum or Bharat Petroleum offer now. But those on the highways are seeking to change the dynamics of the trade.

The company has decided to create two types of petrol pumps on the highways - one, which will be spread over 2 acres of land and work like a dhaba, with parking space for 60 trucks, a real dhaba serving roti, nan, and dal makhni, and resting space etc, and a second type (called rest centres), which will be spread over 4 acres, and provide organised parking lots for 30 trucks and 30 cars each, beside housing AC and non AC rooms for the traveller.

The Rest Centres, to be set up with an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore each, will also have four- five top line restaurants, with an organised back-end food end supply chain and Reliance Infocomm's own internet cafe called Webworlds. Significantly, all manned by Reliance's own staff.

The sources said that the new pumps -- 'dhabas' and 'rest centres' --have been designed to offer upmarket ambience with all amenities for those who want to have both, commute and rest, while on a long drive. What's more, all the petrol pumps of the company will be connected through an optical fibre network with its greenfield Jamnagar refinery.

This will help the company to monitor stock position of each outlet and it can make its supply chain more efficient. Reliance's initiative will set a trend for highway petrol stations, as existing public sector oil marketing firms such as IOC, HPCL and BPCL are also planning an expansion on the expressways zig-zagging the nation.

Other new players like ONGC, which has asked the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad to design its stations, Essar Oil and multinational Royal Dutch Shell Group, are also planning to hit the 'expressway to prosperity'.

[deepu 0]

Reliance Petro, the petroleum business unit of Reliance Industries Limited, has embarked upon retail expansion binge in a big way to become the biggest player in the private sector.

Marketing advisor of Reliance Petro S K Kapoor told PTI that by the end of the current financial year, the company plans to increase the number of retail outlets from 300 to 1000.

Kapoor said although Reliance was putting up most of the ROs along state and national highways, the company was also looking at premium locations in various metropolitan cities and towns across the country.

Reliance Petro also supplies petro products to the various oil companies in the public sector from its refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Kapoor said the present arrangement in this regard would remain valid till March 31, 2005.

The Jamnagar refinery was one of the biggest in Asia with a refining capacity of 33 million tonnes per annum, out of which 12 mtpa was diesel, three mtpa was petrol, 2.5 mtpa was LPG, and the balance was naphtha, paraxylene and petcoke consumed directly by the petrochemicals plant of the company.

Besides land-based ROs, the company is also planning to introduce mobile outlets for which trucks would be pressed in service carrying 10 kilolitres of petroleum products each.

For this, the company had approached the concerned authorities for getting the necessary approvals.

Reliance Petro would also retail petro products in barges, which would have the capacity to carry 500 kilolitres. He said that the self-propelled barges would ferry along inland waterways to meet the fuel requirements of fishermen and others.

The company had already commissioned a floating diesel outlet in the Namkhana region in the Sunderbans area where fishing trawlers would be able to fulfill their fuel supply requirements from the water itself.

Talking about exports, he said that the company was exporting 60 per cent of diesel and 70 per cent of petrol to USA and other countries on long-term contract basis.

The entire LPG production was being sold to the PSUs, he said.

Reliance Petro imports all its crude requirement.

Asked about the price, which it charges, he said that the company sells the petro products at par with those of PSUs.

[Chirag 5]

Reliance plans 2,000 retail outlets by '06

January 27, 2005 19:48 IST

Rediff.com

Reliance Industries Ltd would set up about 2,000 outlets across the country by 2006 while another private oil retailer Essar Oil Ltd would set up 500 outlets by the current fiscal.

We have set up 300 outlets and are planning to set up about 2,000 outlets till 2006 end, RIL executive director Hital Meswani told reporters on Thursday.

Of the total 2,000 outlets, about 1,500 would be on franchisee basis, he said adding that the average throughput of its outlets was 2.5 times the industry average.

It is one of the largest retail networks to be established in the world by a greenfield operator, he said, adding that the retail outlets would have a pan-India presence through Reliance Infocomm's nationwide broadband network to provide the Indian consumer with an unprecedented retail experience.

Essar Oil Ltd vice president - retail (west zone) S B Prasad said the company was targeting to roll out about 500 outlets during the current fiscal.

The company has, at present, commissioned about 250 retail outlets across ten states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, he said.

He said the outlets would be no-frills outlets with focus on providing quality fuel at right quantity.

Prasad said the number of retail outlets in the country was estimated to go up to 36,200 from the present 27,550 by the next fiscal.