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Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has opened its firstfilling station in India,as the upstream producer pushes into the oil product retail sector. Thestate-owned company joins supermajor Royal Dutch/Shell, which made its retaildebut around four months ago (IOD Dec.29,p1).
Shell's station, at the Yeshwantpur Circle on the northern outskirts of Bangalore, India's version of Silicon Valley, is home to brisk activity, with motorists and expensivecars crowded around 10 modern pumps dispensing unleaded diesel and two gradesof gasoline.
"We will start selling Euro-3 grade fuelsstarting Apr. 1," says a Shell staffer, referring to the new fuelstandards in Indiathat will take effect next month (IOD Feb.8,p5).
ONGC has already started marketing low-sulfur gasolinefrom its first outlet in Mangalore, a few hundred kilometers to the west.
Both Shell and ONGC choose up-and-coming softwarecities in the southern Indian state of Karnataka to launch their retailoperations...