Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Dec 26, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Dec 26, 2002 |
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Corporate
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Announcements Industry & Economy - Petroleum IOC to unveil high-end fuel in 25 cities Archana Chaudhary
MUMBAI, Dec. 25 AFTER a lull of four months, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's high-end fuel `Premium' is set to move out of Delhi. The company has plans to launch `IOC Premium' petrol and `Super Diesel' in Gujarat "before the end of this month''. Following this, the company will launch the fuels in 25 cities across the country. The fuel, which was launched in the Capital on August 24, has not made its presence felt in the rest of the country, as compared to its brand rivals `Speed' and `Power'. "The plan is to launch `Premium' in four cities in Gujarat. We have already begun test marketing it in these cities. Premium and Super will be made available all over the country within a month's time,'' Mr S.K. Swaminathan, Executive Director, Western Region, IOC. Indian Oil Corporation lagged behind its PSU rivals Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum in launching premium petrol and diesel brands. While BPCL launched its brand `Speed' in July this year followed, within a couple of weeks, by HPCL's `Power'. IOC had launched its high-end petrol and diesel on August 24. IOC had touted `Premium' as different from the other two brands as it is a high-octane fuel which needs to meet certain refinery specifications, as compared to Speed and Power which, IOC officials say, are additive-added petrol and diesel. IOC claims its `Premium' is a 92-octane fuel compared with the 87 octane offered by BPCL and HPCL. However, while the two oil companies have managed to reach metros and large Indian cities with their brands, IOC's Premium has a presence only in the Capital. Company officials agree that the need to meet refinery specifications is one of the main reasons for its brand being confined to Delhi. "One of the reasons to launch this fuel in Gujarat is the presence of the Koyali refinery. We are looking at means to make these fuels available in the rest of the country,'' Mr Swaminathan said.
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