The Ruias-managed Essar Oil is fast catching up with Reliance Industries in the number of petrol pumps set up by private sector retailers.
As on March 1, 2007, Essar Oil had 1,149 petrol bunks, few notches below RIL's 1,367 pumps, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said in the Rajya Sabha.
"The government has granted authorisation to market transportation fuel to four companies - Reliance Industries, Essar Oil, Shell India and Reliance Petroleum Ltd," he said.
However, RPL has not set up any retail outlet to sell petrol and diesel in the country so far. Shell India has 32 outlets - 14 each in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, three in Andhra Pradesh and one in Maharashtra. Essar has the maximum number of 179 outlets in Gujarat, followed by 155 in Maharasthra and 151