Essar Oil to enter into ATF marketing in next 6-9 months

MUMBAI: Essar group company, Essar Oil, is planning to enter aviation turbine fuel (ATF) marketing in the next six-nine months, a senior company official said.

Essar Oil has also obtained licences to set up refueling stations in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Udaipur and Jaipur, he said.

"We will start selling ATF in Gujarat and Rajasthan in the next 6-9-months. Presently, we have a refuelling station in Jamnagar for our captive use, but in future, it will also be used for commercial purposes," Essar Oil's chief executive officer--Marketing, S Thangapandian, said on the sidelines of a conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.

So far, ATF marketing has been the monopoly of state-owned oil companies like Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC.

Essar Oil's business model would be 'cash-n-carry', he said, adding the company's focus would be mainly be on defence, private aviation industry and corporates.

"Essar Oil has already tied-up with the Adani group for the same and is also in talks with others," Thangapandian said.

So far, marketing of AFT has been a monopoly of oil PSUs, he said.