Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc) is intending to increase its service stations by 50% within two years.
The company is also planning the addition of new revenue streams after it launches its on-demand fuel services.
12bn litres of fuel are consumed by vehicles in the United Arab Emirates every year from a total of 566 service stations.
Enoc is Dubai’s biggest fuel retailer.
There are presently 133 Enoc stations, a figure that will double by 2021 in a 100% expansion, according to the company’s managing director of retail Zaid Alqufaidi.
Alqufaidi says that a study has been done that demonstrates that the company’s throughput is actually double that of the world standard.
Sixty thousand litres per day is being pumped through each station when 30,000 is the world standard, highlighting the level of fuel demand in the UAE.
In May, the company announced that it would invest Dh2.2bn in the expansion of its Saudi Arabia and
UAE network, primarily so that it could meet the ever-growing demand caused by Dubai’s hosting of Expo 2020.
Alqufaidi says that 17 service stations should be online in Saudi Arabia by the end of 2019.
The new fuel stations are to be a mixture of new greenfield outlets and refurbished ones.
An on-demand fuel service by the name of Enoc Link was launched by the company on Tuesday.
The service delivers fuel right to the doorstep of its customers, with commercial customers who can find accessing standard service stations difficult being the initial targeted demographic.
Alqufaidi says that the new service is allowing them to get to previously unreachable customers such as construction companies with cranes, forklifts and generators.
These devices cannot be taken to gas stations, and sending out pick-up trucks filled with drums is a pain for both company and consumer.
The new service adds a much greater degree of efficiency and will help the firm to gain an increase in customers and to keep those it already has.
Enoc Link has a fleet of as many as 30 vehicles, and deliveries have already begun to commercial customers situated in free zones such as Jebel Ali.
Car owners located in remote locations are also being serviced.
The service is competing with Cafu, a fuel delivery firm founded in 2018.
Enoc and others are working on regulating the market with the UAE government in order to assist with the setting of safety and training standards.
The company is looking to grow within the retail sector and is open to the prospect of making acquisitions in the future, says Alqufaidi.
The service is part of the accelerator programme Enoc Next, which launched an online car insurance company called Beema last month.
That service, created in conjunction with Axa, offers up to 25% cashback to customers in the UAE who put a limit on how many kilometres they drive.
Car insurance is a legal obligation within the UAE, and Beema has made it even easier for drivers to take out coverage.