Reliance Industries seals fuel retail deal with BP

Reliance Industries on Thursday finalised a deal with BP in fuel retail following which BP paid $1 billion to pick up a 49 per cent stake in the joint venture. The much-awaited tieup will see retail petrol pumps of Reliance being rebranded as “Jio-BP”.

RIL will hold 51 per cent in the joint venture. In August last year, RIL and BP had announced a new joint venture to sell auto fuel and ATF in the country. The partnership hopes to extend their alliance in oil exploration and expand Reliance’s network of petrol pumps to 5,500 over five years from 1,400 at present.

RIL had then said that the investment from BP is to be seen in the context of a strong growth in fuel demand over the next two decades and that during this period India would become the fastest growing market for fuels, with the number of cars estimated to grow almost six-fold.