BP and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) have agreed to create a new joint venture held at 51% by RIL and at 49% by BP. The new entity will control RIL’s existing fuel retail network of over 1,400 sites across India, which the two companies plan to expand to up to 5,500 sites over the next five years. The joint venture will also include RIL's aviation fuels business, which currently operates at over 30 airports throughout the country. The joint venture 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. Subject to regulatory and other customary approvals, the transaction will be complete in the first half of 2020, after a final agreement planned before the end of 2019.
Following initial co-operation in offshore exploration from 2008, BP acquired a 30% share in RIL's portfolio of offshore exploration and production interests in 2011, including the major KG D6 gas producing block off the east coast. Since 2017, partners have approved three new gas developments in the KG D6 block.