Royal Dutch Shell eyes 1,500 petrol pumps in 10 years in India

Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday said it plans to scale up number of petrol pumps in the country to 1,500 in next 10 years as the company looks to expand in world's third largest oil consuming nation.nn

New Delhi: Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday said it plans to scale up number of petrol pumps in the country to 1,500 in next 10 years as the company looks to expand in world's third largest oil consuming nation.

"We have a plan to get up to 1,500 retail stations...We have identified when we want to expand and how we want to expand," Shell India chairman Nitin Prasad told reporters here.

The company owns 85 out of the country's 59,595 petrol pumps.

When asked about the time-frame for setting up the 1,500 petrol pumps, Prasad said, "We have a target timeline of let's say about 10 years that we want to see stations all up. It will happen in a phased manner."

Shell is the only foreign player in the fuel retailing business dominated by public sector firms in the country. Reliance Industries owns 1,400 outlets and Essar Oil, now acquired by Rosneft of Russia, has 3,499 pumps.

On being asked whether the company identified the areas where it wants to expand, he said, "...A couple of more areas we are really focused on. Given that its very consumer oriented demand one is retail, lubricants. We are taking a look at those two areas."

"We are also taking very big look at renewable energy in terms of winds, solar, bio fuels...We are taking a look at all these different areas," he said.

Shell, he said, is also keen on gas marketing in India.

"Gas being a very cleaner burning fuel we are taking a look at how we can take a look at gas into downstream market. How does gas begin to replace diesel gen sets in industrial sectors. How does LNG in transportation comes into place. LNG in marine. So that's another area we are taking a look at," he said.

Shell already owns majority stake in the 5 million tons a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Hazira in Gujarat.