25.6.08

Reliance to keep it's closed Petrol Pumps


Indian corporate goliath Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has taken a decision not to dismantle its company-owned petrol pump outlets. Instead, RIL will keep them intact to be re-opened whenever it becomes viable to enter the retail fuel business again.Of the 2,500 RIL petrol outlets countrywide, over a 1,000 are company owned.Further, quelling speculation that RIL will convert these properties into malls and multi-plexes, the source said moves were also afoot to convert some of these petrol pumps into gas stations. It may be mentioned that of the remaining 1,500 petrol pumps which are either dealer-owned and operated or leased from dealers and provided dealership, RIL had offered them the option of buy-back. The company is believed to have offered them lucrative deals of between Rs 2 crore and Rs 4 crore for the properties and petrol pumps owned by the dealers.
For dealers who did not want to sell out, RIL is assisting them in converting them into gas dealerships. It may be recalled that RIL had been forced to exit the petroleum retail business after notching up staggering losses of almost Rs 800 crore last year on an investment of around Rs 2,500 crore account of the growing gap between low, government mandated prices of petrol and diesel and rising crude oil prices.
Lashing out at the Centre, the RIL official alleged that lack of a level playing field had forced companies like RIL, Essar and Shell to move out of the business.

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