Shell has said that it is temporarily closing down 15 of its retail outlets in south India. According to the company, the absence of a level playing field for private oil companies and the rising global crude oil and refined product prices have forced it into announcing this closure.
Surinderdeep Singh, managing director and general manager of Shell India Marketing, said: The absence of a level playing field and the high cost of servicing retail outlets spread across a geographically diverse area have left us no choice but to consolidate our network wherever there are supporting sites nearby for our customers to minimize the inconvenience to them.
The Business Standard maintained that at present Shell has 50 outlets in the country. Most of these outlets are situated in south India and Maharashtra.
Shell India obtained a marketing license from the Indian government in July 2005 for setting up a network of up to 2,000 fuel retail stations in the country. The company has so far invested $1 billion in India.