New Delhi, May 3 :    New Delhi, May 3:  Reliance Petroleum is planning to open 5,000 petrol stations across the country to take on the state-run oil giants like Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and IBP. Reliance, which is moving aggressively to retail its own brand of diesel and petrol that it produces at its Jamnagar refinery, has sought the government's permission to set up its own retail network which will be in place over the next two years. The Jamnagar refinery is the largest in the country with a capacity of over 27 million tonnes of throughput. Reliance is reported to be buying up large tracts of land along the national highways where it plans to build its petrol stations. The company has elaborate plans to open petrol stations with large convenience outlets and restroom facilities for tired travellers on the highways. Petroleum minister Ram Naik said others seeking to enter what many see as one of the most lucrative segments in the oil industry include Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Essar Oil and Numaligarh Refineries Ltd. Addressing the Gastech 2002 seminar here today, Naik said all four companies had applied for authorisation to retail transportation fuels like petrol and diesel. The entry of private sector players like Reliance and Essar became possible after the government relaxed its administered price mechanism (APM) regime for the petroleum industry which kept oil retailing as an exclusive preserve for state-owned oil PSUs. IOC has the largest network of retail outlets followed by HPCL and BPCL. Last month, IOC picked up a strategic stake in IBP, which has the smallest of the retail networks, when the government put up its stake in the company for sale. The government plans to sell similar strategic stakes in HPCL and BPCL over the next few months and both Reliance and Essar are keen to acquire a readymade petro-product retailing chain. Reliance has an arrangement with IOC under which the state-owned giant will retail 50 per cent of its petro-products over the next two years till the Ambani-owned giant establishes its own retailing network. It also has worked out similar arrangements with HPCL and BPCL. Naik said the oil exploration firm ONGC had applied for the marketing rights of the transportation fuels on April 30. ONGC has applied for marketing rights to sell petrol and diesel in India through a retail chain in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, the minister said. Sources in the ministry said ONGC has applied for authorisation to set up 400-500 retail outlets. However, the minister did not specify the number of outlets that ONGC had applied for.