Early History - Dawn of a New Era

Petroleum (derived from Latin Petra - rock and oleum - oil) first came up in wells drilled for salt. People found it useful as illuminating oil and the demand for it steadily increased.

Samuel Kier, a Pittsburgh druggist, bottled and marketed Petroleum as medicinal cure. To market a deodorised variant, he designed the first primitive refinery in 1852, which was a huge improvised kettle, connected to a metal tank.

'Colonel' Edwin Drake and 'Uncle' Billy Smith drilled a well with the specific objective of finding oil, and on 27th August 1859, they "struck oil" at Titusvale, in North Western Pennsylvania, USA, at a depth of 69.5 ft.

From Nothing to Gold

The 1860s saw vast industrial development. A lot of petroleum refineries also came up.

An important player in the South Asian market then was the Burmah Oil Company. Though incorporated in Scotland in 1886, the company grew out of the enterprises of the Rangoon Oil Company, which had been formed in 1871 to refine crude oil produced from primitive hand dug wells in Upper Burma.

The search for oil in India began in 1886, when Mr. Goodenough of McKillop Stewart Company drilled a well near Jaypore in upper Assam and struck oil. In 1889, the Assam Railway and Trading Company (ARTC) struck oil at Digboi marking the beginning of oil production in India.

While discoveries were made and industries expanded, John D Rockefeller together with his business associates acquired control over numerous refineries and pipelines to later form the giant Standard Oil Trust. The largest rivals of Standard Oil - Royal Dutch, Shell, Rothschilds - came together to form a single organisation: Asiatic Petroleum to market petroleum products in South Asia.

In 1928, Asiatic Petroleum (India) joined hands with Burmah Oil Company - an active producer, refiner and distributor of petroleum products, particularly in Indian and Burmese markets. This alliance led to the formation of Burmah-Shell Oil Storage and Distributing Company of India Limited.

Did you know?

• In&Out stores have a wide range of services viz., ATMs of leading Banks, Music stores from Planet M and Music World, Beverages from Pepsi, Coffee and snacks from Cafe Coffee Day and Coffee Day Xpress and a variety of impulse buys including confectionery, snacks, convenience foods, toiletries and select range of branded groceries and other FMCG products through exclusive tie-ups with such FMCG majors like ITC, Cadbury and Frito-Lay.
• In&Out stores are the first to open and last to shut in the neighbourhood
• Customers can use their PetroCard for In&Out shopping and earn valuable “Petromiles”.
• In & Out stores are the largest organized convenience store retailing chain in the country with a standardised layout across the country, with a high level of aesthetics and an ambience aimed at deriving maximum value for our alliance partners and offering consumers a revolutionary solution for attending to their daily chores.
• The In&Out stores offer Western Union Money Transfer facilities in Mumbai – Money available all the time from your near and dear ones abroad at our store
• In&Out stores offer all cellphone – recharge cards, and today with the launch of e-charge we are the first in the country to offer electronic charging of e-cards – now you can never lose your prepaid card re-charge voucher
• Have Pepsi at In&Out – anytime; if you want something more indulge in Coffee & Snacks from CAFE COFFEE DAY at select In & Out stores.
• If you want the latest music – come to the “Satellites” from Planet M and to “Unplugged” from Music World, next to your home and get top quality music cassettes and CDs.
• Pick the latest issue of India Today, Outlook and any other magazine at the store today

GENERATING EXCITEMENT

If you have come to our store in the last few weeks, you would have noticed some pioneering initiatives to attract fuel customers and non fuel customers at our store.
• BPCL is the first to pioneer the concept of “Hood talkers” in India in a few select stores in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Ernakulam and Baroda – a concept widely implemented by global oil majors.
• For the convenience of our fueling customers who have very little time, we have mobile trolleys at the fuel outlet which will bring convenience to your car
• We have implemented In-store branding across large part of our network to help you locate what you want easily
• All purchases are through computerized billing through India’s largest retail information network to help us get the products you want
• Watch out for regular promotions that are going to be run across your city network in the next two weeks! The offers are always a steal and our alliance partners too regularly chip in with exclusive promotions to make the shopping experience truly convenient and exciting!

OUR NEW ALLIANCES :

E-CHARGE
Over the past two years, one of the key learnings has been the high level of customer acceptance of the cellphone offering in our In & Out stores. Consistent customer feedback has indicated the high level of convenience perception in having made cellphone recharge cards available at the In & Out stores. With the cellular market showing manifold growth, cellphones have become a way of life and our endeavour has been to make recharge cards easily available for our customers. With our stores operating 7 days a week through extended working hours, we believe that we would be in a position to maximize convenience in this category.

E-Charge is a complete system and service provider offering “electronic delivery system” for the prepaid product industry through electronic terminals. This innovative system vertically integrates the distribution value chain by linking mobile operators with the retail channel. This service is synergistic with BPCL’s overall strategic objective of leveraging technology for optimizing customer offerings and by introducing the E-Charge service through the In & Out stores, the customer would have the convenience of purchasing recharge cards of the cellular company and denomination of his choice at any point of time. The service optimizes customer convenience, ensures complete security of the prepaid PINs and is highly scalable. The technology can also be leveraged to introduce other products like movie tickets, sporting tickets etc and services like Bill Payments etc.

We would also be working closely with E-Charge and with the mobile operators to come out with innovative consumer offers and marketing activities to create maximum value for our customers. We are happy to launch this service through our stores in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad.

Contact Nos:

**Details taken from respective Company's Website