Privately held Essar Oil is making plans to build up to 400 retail fuels station in several northeastern states of India following the successful start-up of two outlets in Assam.

The company plans to invest between Rs 1 million and Rs 4 million, excluding the cost of the land, in each retail outlet carrying the Essar brand. (US$1=Rs38). It would also set up company-owned outlets in select places. Essar outlets will offer gasoline, diesel, lubricants, fast food, local foods, ATM and cyber café services.

It is building support infrastructure including a fuel depot in Haldia in Bengal state and has signed a supply contract with Bharat Petroleum's Numaligarh refinery to source oil products.

Essar will obtain from Numaligarh plant and the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd a total of 7.5 million litres of gasoline and 45 million litres of diesel. It has tied up with Castrol India for the supply of lubricants in the west.

Essar Oil managing director A. N. Sinha told Telegraph India: "This is part of our efforts to have a pan-India presence in marketing petroleum products. We would like to develop the marketing network by the time our refinery goes on stream."

Essar Oil is building a 10.5-million-tonne-per-annum capacity refinery at Jamnagar, which will be commissioned next year.

The company has established more than 360 outlets in the northwestern states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.