The EOL has already submitted its bid for acquiring about 33.58 percent stake in teh state -owned IBP, through which it aims to gain access over 1,550 retail outlets and 19 storage and handling facilities of IBP spread across the country. As an alternate plan, Essar has announced its intent to set up 1,700 retail stations at a cost of around Rs 1700 crore. EOL hopes to sell around 6.7mt of gasoline and 6mt of HSD by the year '06-07.

However, in the first year, Essar aims to set up 400 retail outlets, which they estimate would cost them Rs 80-90 crore. "The 20 percent would come in as margin money by Essar, while the other 80 percent will be by the way of lease finance from financial institutions and banks," Mr Varma said. The retail outlets, besides selling petrol and diesel, would also offer various other services including ATMs, cyber cafe, video parlour , entertainment and supermarket, depending on the space available, he said. With the aim to corner 9-10 percent of market share by year '06-07, EOL wants complete control over its retail network. Applicants wanting dealership of Essar retail outlets would have to lease out their land to Essar. EOL will also be completely responsible for all investments and infrastructure to be set up at these outlets. It is also learnt to be holding talks with other PSU oil majors for sharing the surplus capacity at their tankages.