BP and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) have signed a definitive agreement on the creation of their fuels retail joint venture in India. The Jio-BP joint venture, which was announced in August 2019, will be created during the first half of 2020, pending regulatory and other customary approvals. BP and RIL expect the JV to create a world class fuels partnership.
The joint venture will be owned by RIL (51%) and BP (49%) and will control RIL's existing Indian fuel retail network (over 1,400 sites across India with a target of reaching up to 5,500 sites over the next five years). It will also include RIL's aviation fuels business, which currently operates at over 30 airports throughout the country with plans to expand to 45 aviation fuel stations over the next five years. It will source fuels from RIL's Jamnagar refinery, and bets on the strong increase in India's fuel demand as the number of cars on the roads is forecast to increase six-fold in the next 20 years.