By Nidhi Verma and Shadia Nasralla
NEW DELHI/LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Global oil major BPis deepening its ties with Indian conglomerate RelianceIndustries by forging a fuel retailing joint ventureto capitalise on rising demand in Asia's third-biggest economy.
The move comes days after BP said it would build a networkof charging hubs for electric vehicles with China's DidiChuxing, betting on the world's largest market for such cars.
BP will own a 49% stake in its new Indian joint venture,with the rest held by Reliance, operator of the world's biggestrefining complex. The companies did not disclose financialdetails of the deal.
In 2011 BP acquired a 30% stake from Reliance in some of itsexploration blocks and formed a gas sourcing and marketingtie-up. In 2017 the two companies signed agreements to exploreoptions to work together to develop alternative fuels andmobility businesses.
The new venture will take over Reliance's 1,400-plus retailfuel stations and its aviation fuel business spread across 30Indian airports. The plan is to expand its retail fuel networkto up to 5,500 sites over five years.
Foreign oil majors including Saudi Aramco and France's Totalare trying to secure a foothold in India, which ischallenging China as the driver of global oil demand.
The International Energy Agency expects the South Asiannation to account for a quarter of global energy use by 2040.
In a joint statement announcing the tie-up, the Britishcompany's chief execuive, Bob Dudley, said India is set to bethe world's largest growth market for energy by the mid-2020s.
So far European oil major Royal Dutch Shell andRussia's Rosneft, through its Nayara Energy business,are the only foreign players in India's retail fuel network.
Reliance and BP hope to conclude final agreements by the endof December and close the transaction by June 2020.
BP, which operates gas stations and convenience storesacross 18 countries with more than 18,700 sites, had previouslyobtained permission from the federal oil ministry to enterIndia's fuel marketing and aviation business on its own.
However, Dudley told the CNBC-TV18 news channel it didn'tfeel right for BP to establish an Indian retail fuel business onit own.(Reporting By Shadia Nasralla in London and Nidhi Verma in NewDelhiEditing by Euan Rocha and David Goodman)
