RIL in talks with IOC, HPCL on retail outlets

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) said in March that it may sell or lease its 1,432 petrol pumps to Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) even as it started reopening outlets it had closed last year. Establishing a partnership with IOC would enable the company to sell fuel domestically from its two “export sales only” refineries at Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Meanwhile, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) and RIL are also said to be in talks about a possible deal on running the latter’s retail fuel outlets in India, which have been closed for a year. HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal. HPCL said it can recover the losses it makes on selling oil for less than the cost price from the government, so it is feasible for the public sector marketer to run RIL’s closed petrol pumps. (February 20, March 2/5/15, 2009)