In first major foreign foray, Reliance buys Gulf Africa Petroleum

Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation is one of the largest independent petroleum marketing and trading organisations in east Africa and is primarily involved in the import, supply and transport of oil products to countries in the region. The company was formed in 1992 to acquire the retail petroleum marketing assets of Esso in Tanzania, Uganda, Mauritius and Reunion. The company is principally owned by Yogesh and Dhiran Kotak who have a wide range of commercial interests in Tanzania and neighbouring countries.

Reliance considers its acquisition of GAPCO strategic in nature. “The east African countries, where GAPCO operates, have demonstrated rapid economic growth and have progressive government policies in place. The demand for petroleum products in these countries is rising steadily and has mirrored the rapid GDP growth. Import of petroleum products to these countries are also expected to rise in the near future,” RIL said.

Further, these markets are easily accessible from India and provide a strategic fit for exports from India. The acquisition of GAPCO by Reliance is a strategic step towards achieving its global vision in the petroleum downstream sector by integrating the entire value chain consisting of refining, shipping, trading, terminalling and marketing through retail and wholesale segments. “The integration of this entire global value chain presents Reliance an extremely attractive potential upside to gain further prominence in the global petroleum downstream arena. This will help Reliance establish a natural marketing sink for its refinery products and capture value up to the last mile in the global petroleum value chain,” it said.