ONGC opened its first petrol bunk on March 19 at Mangalore, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said in the Lok Sabha.
"For the fiscal 2005-06, ONGC has made a provision of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) for setting up retail outlets," he said.
Aiyar said ONGC had also been allowed to market seasonally surplus LPG through the parallel marketing system or directly, after meeting domestic requirements, till March 31, 2006 and thereafter market LPG with effect from April 1, 2006.
"The opening of retail outlets depends upon various factors such as identification of viable locations, release of advertisements, conducting interviews etc and hence it is not possible to indicate the exact number of retail outlets to be opened by ONGC during the current year.
"However, ONGC has reported it proposes to open 15 retail outlets in Karnataka and Gujarat during the current year at government or ONGC-owned locations," he said.