Financial Express India: Shell studying retail network viability 

Posted online: Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Shell India Marketing Pvt Ltd, the first multinational company that has permission to open 2,000 petro retailing outlets in the country, is conducting field studies to identify commercially viable spots across the country.

“Now we have only three outlets—two in Bangalore and one in Chennai. We are planning to be all over the country,” Mr Shairan Husain, managing director of Shell India Marketing, said. Shell India Marketing, the automobile fuel retailing arm of Shell India Pvt Ltd, now sources petrol and diesel from the 9.6 million-tonne capacity Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemcials Ltd (MRPL). “Shell’s strategy is to source locally. Hence we are open to entering into deals with other refineries also as we expand,” he said.

In case of any problem for local supplies or availability of any particular kind of fuels, Shell has facilities to import them from its refineries in Singapore or Malaysia, Mr Husain told newsmen here on Monday.

S Ravi, sales and operational manager, Shell India Marketing, said the petrol and diesel sold through the company outlets have proprietary additives that would help keep the engine clean and maintenance-free for longer periods.

Shell’s adoption of eco-friendly technologies has set a new benchmark for petrol retainling in the country, he said. The retail stations incorporate environment-friendly features as an integral part of the design. Some of the novel features include double-walled underground storage tanks made of fibre reinforced plastics with electronic sensors to detect any leakage, polyethelene flexible pipelines, drainage system to collect waste water with oil-water separators etc.

http://www.financialexpress.com/shell/story

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