Total plans fuel retailing in India with local partner

French oil and gas major Total has said that it is mulling entering fuel retailing in India in collaboration with a local partner.

“It’s a big market with big players like Indian Oil and others having thousands of retail stations. It has been recently deregulated. Obviously we are thinking about it,” Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said.

“I think that India for us is also a matter of finding the right Indian partners,” he said, adding that Total has to find the right partner to do fuel retailing business.

Pouyanne further said, “It’s not because we are large international company and we can do very well, we have the money, the financial capacities, we have the expertise in many of these businesses, but I think it is also to understand the local ways of making business and in India we have specifics.

So, yes we have an interest, but we have to find the right partner to do the local business.”

Earlier, after meeting Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, he said that Total plans to invest in expanding LPG infrastructure in India, including boosting storage capacity, import terminals and distribution network.

The firm sells lubricants and LPG in India. It had in 1998 commissioned a fully integrated LPG import terminal at Mangaluru. It also has a minority stake in LNG import terminal at Hazira in Gujarat.

Pouyanne said India’s growing energy market, especially LPG, LNG and renewables, were attractive for investments for Total. The LNG, Pouyanne said, is a good market in India.

“We are already in Hazira. We are trying to see if we can expand,” he said, adding that there are “plenty of terminals” in Gujarat. Besides the 5 million tonnes a year Hazira import facility, Petronet LNG Ltd operates a 15 MT terminal at Dahej and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp is building a 5 MT terminal at Mundra in the state.