Indian Oil Corporation may bid for acquiring petrol pumps owned by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Jet, a subsidiary of Canoco Philips, in Thailand to expand its retailing operations beyond India.
IOC, India's largest oil refining and marketing company, has chalked out a plan to become a $50 billion company in the next five years through acquisitions of both downstream oil refining and marketing and upstream exploration and production businesses abroad.
"We have received offers for acquiring retail outlets owned by Kuwait Petroleum Thailand and Jet. The IOC board has approved a due diligence of the offer, based on which a decision on bidding for the assets will be taken," a senior company official said in New Delhi.
Both the firms have about 90 petrol pumps and together account for 12 per cent of the retail business in Thailand. Though the margin on fuel sales is low because of stiff retail competition, the non-auto fuel sales are good, sources said.
Kuwait Petro has a little over 5 per cent market share with a network that includes Everyday convenience stores, while Jet has a 6 per cent market share.
IOC has already set foot in Sri Lanka and Mauritius by acquiring petrol pumps and is eyeing more acquisitions.
Sources said the company, which lost its bid to enter the petroleum retail market in Malaysia, has decided against bidding for British Petroleum's retail business in Singapore.
The decision against bidding for BP's Singapore pumps followed the British firm withdrawing its Singapore refinery from the offer. This left only 30 petrol stations with 12 per cent market share and LPG business up for grabs.
"Malaysia offered good volume growth prospects but Singapore, in isolation, was not profitable," sources said.
Petronas of Malaysia had bagged BP's 70 per cent equity in BP Malaysia Bhd by opting for pre-emption rights under its first right of refusal. BP Malaysia owned 272 retail outlets and a 50,000-kilolitre terminal and accounted for 10 per cent of Malaysia's fuel market and 13 per cent of LPG sales.
"Notwithstanding the setback in Malaysia and Singapore, we will continue to look for opportunities," they added.