BP, Europe's third-biggest oil company, has received government approval to set up petrol pumps to retail petrol and diesel in India.
BP will be the tenth player to enter the lucrative fuel retailing business that is seeing double digit growth, not seen anywhere in the world.
The UK-based firm, as also Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, was given approval by the Indian Oil Ministry to retail petrol and diesel just a few days back, sources said.
When contacted, a BP India spokesperson said: "BP sees a strong future for transportation fuels in India. We are keen to be involved in this market and contribute to its development."
The company had in January this year won in-principle approval to retail aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to airlines in India. A few months later, it got full approval for that.
Now, the company has also got permission for retailing petrol and diesel.
"We can confirm we have been granted approval for marketing for ATF and have additionally applied for an authorisation to market MS (petrol) and HSD (diesel)," the BP spokesperson said.
For a licence to retail auto fuels petrol, diesel and ATF, a company should have invested a minimum of Rs 2,000 crore in exploration or production of oil and gas, oil refining, gas or product pipeline or terminals leading to additionality to the existing assets or creation of new assets in the eligible activities.
India currently has about 56,190 petrol pumps, with public sector firms operating a majority of them. Private sector operators are limited to Essar Oil and Reliance Industries, which between them have some 3,500 petrol pumps. Royal Dutch Shell operates 82 petrol stations.
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