Centre To Ease Norms For Setting Up Petrol Pumps

New Delhi: The Centre is planning to ease the norms further for setting up petrol pumps in India soon. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has appointed an expert panel to review the 2019 guidelines for granting authorisation to market transportation fuels. The panel, however, will assess whether the current framework is effective or not, and hence find ways to align it with the push for alternative fuels and electric mobility, and address implementation issues, a ministry official source said on Sunday.

In the 2019 order, the government had relaxed the norms for setting up petrol pumps, opening the door for non-oil companies to enter the fuel retailing business. As per rules, companies with a net worth of Rs 250 crore were permitted to sell petrol and diesel, provided they committed to setting up infrastructure for at least one new-generation alternative fuel, such as CNG, LNG, biofuels, or EV charging, within three years of beginning their operations. Besides, for companies wanting to sell petrol and diesel to retail and bulk consumers, the net worth criteria was set at Rs 500 crore.

It has been learnt that all the global energy players have long been eyeing the Indian fuel retail space, but state-run oil marketing companies in India still dominate the market space of owning over 97,804 petrol pumps. “The new proposed guidelines will ensure energy security and market efficiency in India, which is the world’s fastest-growing fuel market, as part of its commitment to decarbonisation,” the official said.

Among all public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is the market leader with 40,666 outlets, while BPCL 23,959 and HPCL 23,901. Among private players, Reliance-BP, Nayara Energy and Shell have a smaller footprint in comparison to PSU oil retailers, though interest from global giants remains strong.

Besides, Total Energies with Adani, BP with Reliance, Puma Energy, and Saudi Aramco have reportedly all explored entry or expansion. The joint venture of Reliance, which operates the world’s largest oil refining complex, and BP has 1,991 outlets. Besides, Nayara has 6,763 pumps, while Shell has just 355.

As far as the expert panel is concerned, an official order stated that the committee will review the 2019 guidelines for granting authorisation to market transportation fuels. “The four-member committee is headed by Sukhmal Jain, former director (marketing) at BPCL and other members include P Manoj Kumar, director general, Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), PS Ravi, representative from the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) and Arun Kumar, director (marketing), ministry of petroleum and natural gas,” it said.

An August 6 order of the oil ministry had sought stakeholder/general public comments/suggestions on the matter within 14 days. Prior to the 2019 change, to obtain a fuel-retailing license in India, a company had to invest or commit to invest Rs 2,000 crore in either hydrocarbon exploration and production, refining, pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.