An Analysis of Marketing and Consumption Trends in Indian Oil Industry

Marketing strategies such as product differentiation and marketing skills are some of the factors that help various public sector oil companies and big private sector player to sustain their market share in the cut throat competition. Logistics or back-end support, in terms of product movement, pipeline infrastructure, tanks, depots and retail pump network, is the single biggest factor to differentiate the competing players. Another thing is the government support that is enjoyed by the public sector companies has a big advantage of a tremendous back-end infrastructure. With very little to differentiate the product of one refiner from another, branded petrol and various value added services are being promoted by the oil companies. Another factor for success depends on having oil equity i.e. to be an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. The era of easy oil finds is over so the Indian companies have to train their sights on new oil discoveries in areas of challenging locations like deep waters, frontier basins that have not caught the fancy of the global oil companies yet. Other than new oil discoveries by marketing companies they are on forefront of acquiring equity oil and gas assets overseas.