Issue No 5 - ErpecNews

an international retail petroleum news digest 

Issue No 5 | June / July 2010 

erpecnews 

www.erpecnews.com 

Mobil Oil Australia confirms agreement to sell 

retail fuels business to 7-Eleven 

Mobil Oil Australia Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of 

ExxonMobil Australia Pty Ltd., confirmed it 

signed an agreement to sell its retail gas business 

to 7-Eleven Australia, less than a month 

after Caltex Australia Ltd. said it wouldn’t 

proceed with its offer for Mobil’s stations after 

competition regulators blocked its bid. The sale 

to 7-Eleven, for an undisclosed sum, includes 

295 company-owned or leased stations that 

are primarily located in metropolitan areas 

in east Australia. Caltex’s roughly A $ 300 

million offer was for 302 of Mobil’s stations 

Al Maha plans 41 souks by year-end in Oman 

Al Maha Petroleum Products Marketing Co 

in cooperation with Al Fair, is currently in the 

process of opening many retail shops at various 

Al Maha filling stations. The company is 

projecting to open 41 shops by the end of the 

current year, and most of these shops will be 

opened for 24 hours. These shops will provide 

job opportunities for many nationals who 

AsiA, Middle eAst & AfricA edition 

but was knocked back because the Australian 

Competition and Consumer Commission 

was concerned the acquisition could result in 

reduced competition at individual stations. 

“We are pleased to have been able to reach 

agreement for the sale of our retail business 

to 7-Eleven”, said Mobil’s Fuels Director Kim 

MacMillan. “The Australian retail fuels market 

is highly competitive and challenging. Mobil 

is now a relatively small participant in that 

sector of the market following the extensive 

rationalization of its company-owned service 

station network over the last few years. We 

continue to be a major fuel wholesaler to the 

commercial and industrial sectors of the market, 

including aviation, regional distributors and 

other independent resellers.” The deal with 

7-Eleven does not include any other part of 

ExxonMobil Australia’s operations. Similarly, 

Caltex’s offer didn’t include refining assets. 

are ready to grab them. Ahmad Al Shanfari 

Director General, Marketing and Operations 

in Al Maha, said that there was an agreement 

with Al Fair Co signed on 18th October 2009, 

where the latter should start the inauguration 

and operating the new retail shops and also 

reopening the existing ones to the customers 

with a new look. 

Privatized petrol sites 

in Burma to open 

Some 250 petrol stations in Burma earmarked 

for privatization in January as 

part of a grand economic reshuffle by the 

government are to open next weekend. 

The stations are scattered throughout 

the country, with around 50 in Rangoon 

division, 40 in Mandalay division, 37 in 

Bago division, 27 in Irrawaddy division 

and 25 in Shan state. “It is a two-sided 

story: one side is that the government 

has monopolized the sector for a long 

time, since the military coup in 1962, so 

it is the government losing its monopoly”, 

said Burmese Economic Analyst, Aung 

Thu Nyein. “But at the same time the assets 

were only transferred to the cronies. 

I think there are less than ten companies 

who got licenses to run gas stations; some 

were transferred to agri-businesses and 

construction companies”, he added. The 

likely owners of the stations are suspected 

to be the Htoo Group, Asia World and the 

Eden Group, all of whom have close ties to 

the ruling junta. Burma is heavily reliant 

upon imported fuel as a result of a lack of 

refining capabilities in the country. The 

current privatization initiative is part of 

a move towards free trade of petroleum 

products, which has been overseen by 

the newly formed Fuel Oil Importers and 

Distributors Association (FOIDA). 

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Ghana Oil completes 50 years of operation 

GOIL Ghana Limited turned 50 last Monday, 

having been incorporated as a private 

limited liability company, AGIP Ghana 

Company Limited back in 14th June 1960, 

with the objective of marketing petroleum 

and related products, particularly fuels, 

liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), lubricants, 

bitumen and other specialty products in 

Ghana. Even though the golden jubilee 

date passed without ceremony, an analyst 

In South Africa, HDI Youth marketeers have 

evaluated the opinion of the youth market 

on SA’s petrol stations. Engen took top spot, 

with BP and Shell coming a close second 

and third respectively. A spokesperson for 

this initiative, Jessica Oosthuizen, says that 

“even though the more youthful element of the 

research group obviously do not drive cars, 

they are still conscious of garages because 

of the forecourt convenience stores, and 

marketers should take note that many kids 

are able to influence where their parents 

fill up. For the under 13s, the preference for 

The Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory 

Authority (EWURA) has closed 21 

fuel stations in Arusha and Kilimanjaro 

region for selling substandard petroleum 

products. The outlets were among 49 stations 

inspected by EWURA in the two 

northern regions in recent weeks. EWURA 

informed in a statement that Meru 3 Petrol 

Station operated by Mount Meru Petroleum 

Limited in Arusha and Vijana Petrol Station 

operated by Loden Petroleum Industrial 

Supplies in Kilimanjaro Region would be 

closed for a year for repeated offences. 

The remaining 19 fuel stations were all 

first offenders, and EWURA has closed 

them and ordered their proprietors to pay 

a 3 million shillings fine each after which 

they would be allowed to reopen after the 

LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 

gathered from sources close to management 

that the company is presently focused on a 

strategy soon to be rolled out that would give 

its competitors a run for their money. Shareholders 

at the time of incorporation of GOIL 

were AGIP SPA of Italy and SNAM S.P.A. 

On the 16th of December 1968, SNAM 

S.P.A. transferred its 10 percent shareholding 

to Hydrocarbons International Holdings 

of Zurich, Switzerland. In 1974, the government 

of Ghana acquired the shares of AGIP 

SPA and Hydrocarbons International Holdings 

in AGIP Ghana Company Limited and 

by a special resolution in 1976 changed the 

name of the Company to Ghana Oil Company 

Limited. By a shareholders resolution passed 

on 1st August 2007 the company adopted 

new regulations and was converted into a 

public company. 

Modern service stations in south Africa stand 

or fall by the quality of their shops 

Engen over BP and Shell is therefore not so 

much to do with the petrol as it is the shops. 

Even in the broader category of grocery stores, 

BP Express and Engen Quick Shops ranked 

a creditable ninth and 10th position. While 

Engen is number one among kids and teens, 

BP (22.9 percent) is the preferred garage 

brand for young adults, who by this time are 

driving. For 19- to 22-year-olds, Engen’s vote 

was 21.8 percent. However, among the 8- to 

13-year-olds, the preference for Engen was 

quite marked at 24.4 percent over closest 

rival BP’s 16.1 percent”. 

EwUrA closes 21 fuel stations in tansania 

authority confirms that they have gotten 

rid of the substandard products they were 

selling. EWURA public relations officer 

Titus Kaguo informed that 30 of the inspected 

fuel stations were in Arusha, while 

19 were in the Kilimanjaro Region. “It was 

a routine inspection meant to check the 

quality of petroleum products sold in the 

two regions”, he said. The inspectors also 

visited two oil depots in Arusha, which were 

found to be conforming with the Tanzania 

Bureau of Standards specifications. Mr 

Kaguo warned petrol stations found to 

have violated TBS specifications for a third 

time would have their licences permanently 

revoked. He added that EWURA was being 

hampered by a lack of testing equipment 

that promptly gave test results.

sHELL restructures station network in India 

Shell in India announced that it is preparing 

to sell around 20 petrol stations from its 

80-strong outlet portfolio in India in an attempt 

to optimise its store locations 

A spokesman for the company said: “We are 

selling sites and outlets that are not worth 

keeping and don’t match our portfolio, and are 

buying at other places. We are adding more 

than we are selling, so that overall, there is a 

Mrs OIl to have outlets ready by year-end 

MRS Oil and Gas Limited has said that 

it would commence full operation of its 

newly branded 625 retails outlets across 

the country, which are parts of the filling 

stations it acquired from Chevron Nigeria 

Plc, before the end of the year. Particu- 

KP stations in Pakistan refuse weekly closure 

The All Pakistan CNG Association, Khyber- 

Pakhtukhwa chapter, has declined to close 

outlets for one day in a week, agreed with 

the government a couple of months ago. Addressing 

a press conference at the press club, 

the chairman of the association, Fayyaz Khan 

Mohammadzai, claimed that the Peshawar 

High Court had granted them relief on their 

petition against gas outages. “The decision of 

the high court has been handed over to the Sui 

Gail asked not to set up filling stations 

Gail Gas is a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s 

largest gas transmission and marketing 

company Gail India. Gail incorporated it in 

2008 for implementation of city gas distribution 

projects. City gas projects involve fuel supply 

to automobile, industries and households. The 

restraining order is limited to particular locations 

in a city for which the company does not 

have specific approval by the regulator, the 

official said. PNGRB secretary confirmed the 

development. “In geographic areas where the 

company has been authorised by the Board 

for setting up CGD networks, no further 

permission from the Board is required to 

set up CNG stations”, he clarified. Specific 

details of alleged unauthorised locations in 

these cities could not be ascertained. As per 

net growth.” However, Shell in India continues 

to be far away from reaching its initial goal 

of operating up to 2,000 stations across the 

country, partly as a result of subsidies which 

the Indian government pays to state-run fuel 

vendors to help control inflation. Shell as a 

private business does not receive such subsidies, 

making it difficult for the company to sell at 

competitive prices 

larly, the company acquired 425 filling 

stations from Chevron, which additional 

200 retail outlets would be acquired from 

some independent marketers, as part of 

the company’s efforts to expand its distribution 

network. 

Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL)”, he said. 

However, after getting legal cover from the court 

they would not tolerate harassment of filling 

station owners. “In the face of the court’s relief, 

forcing the CNG stations to observe gas holiday 

will be sheer injustice”, he added. Elaborating, 

he said 350 million cubic feet (mmcf) of gas is 

produced in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa compared 

to its demand of 150 mmcf while only 20 mmcf 

is consumed by CNG stations. 

Gail Gas officials, setting up CNG stations 

on the highways is the real bone of contention. 

Gail Gas is already implementing projects in 

four cities as they do not require any specific 

permission from the regulator, a company official 

said. “We have authorisation for the CGD 

networks, so we do not need permission for 

specific connections”, he said. The regulator 

had authorised Gail Gas to implement CGD 

projects in four cities – Dewas, Kota, Merrut 

and Sonipat – in March 2009. Gail is yet to 

get authorisation for the rest of the cities. In 

March this year, Gail Gas had invited bids from 

land-owners in seven cities to set up CNG 

stations at various locations. The last date 

for submission of bids was 24th April 2010. 

State-owned Gail India is a major vehicle of 

the oil ministry to connect households of 201 

cities with piped natural gas (PNG) connections 

by 2015. Minister of state for petroleum 

Jitin Prasada has also assured Lok Sabha that 

clean fuel will be available to over 200 cities 

in the next five years. The ministry is certain 

about meeting the target after production of 

gas from Reliance Industries’ KG-D6. 


NEws – MIddLE EAst, AfrICA & AsIA 

shell to open more 

petrol stations this 

year in Indonesia 

PT Shell Indonesia, a subsidiary of oil giant 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, will open five 

petrol stations in Jakarta and Surabaya, 

East Java, in the immediate future, the 

company’s executive has said. Shell public 

management Consultancy Manager Esto 

Sunarso informed reporters that three of 

the stations would be in Jakarta and the 

other two in Surabaya. 

Government fuel to be 

marked in swaziland 

Government fuel will now be marked with 

a different detection solution to monitor its 

use so as to curb its misuse, dilution and 

theft for resale. The Ministry of Natural 

Resources and Energy is implementing a 

nationwide fuel marking and quality assurance 

project which involves marking of all 

fuel that legally enters the country by road 

or rail with a unique marker. 

tOtAL Kenya attracts 

interest from NOCK 

National Oil Corporation Kenya (NOCK) is 

likely to acquire some of the former Caltex 

fuel distribution business being sold by 

TOTAL Kenya. Mwendia Nyaga, Managing 

Director of NOCK, informed that the final 

decision is with TOTAL. It is understood 

that NOCK is bidding for 21 service stations. 

Other assets that the company is eyeing 

include the ex-Chevron plant in Mombasa, 

aviation facilities and filling plants. “We are 

bidding for selected assets. We are not aware 

who we are competing with”, said Nyaga. 

NNPC acquires 250 

fuel retail outlets 

Levi Ajuonuma, Group Public Affairs Mana - 

ger of Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, 

NNPC, said that the decision was 

part of NNPC’s long-term objective to ease 

the challenge of artificial fuel scarcity in 

the country adding that the decision was 

arrived at in collaboration with the Independent 

Petroleum Marketers Association 

of Nigeria (IPMAN). 

3


Charity through sMs 

in saudi Arabia 

The Tas-Helat Marketing Company has 

partnered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 

charity campaign for young kidney dialysis 

patients. Koenraad De Bruyne, Retail Director 

of Tas-Helat, explained that Tas-Helat 

has offered excellent marketing locations 

for this charity campaign on major traffic 

petrol stations. Posters are put strategically 

visible next to the entrance of our C-Store 

and / or on the pillar of our pump islands 

and the poster invites the public to send an 

SMS of which the value goes to the charity. 

Phoenix Petroleum 

set to list shares sold 

to state pension fund 

Listed oil retailer Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, 

Inc. will be listing an additional 7.5 

million shares to cover the sale of a 9.7 percent 

stake in the firm last month to the Social 

Security System (SSS), the government-run 

pension fund for private sector workers. The 

company said in a disclosure to the Philippine 

Stock Exchange the common shares 

were sold to the SSS at a subscription price 

of P5.60 per share. The total transaction 

value was P42 million. The company had 

125 stations at the end of the first quarter. 

Bring your recyclables 

to AdNOC 

Recycling centres will soon be installed at 

petrol stations across Abu Dhabi. ADNOC 

informed that bins for paper, plastics and 

metal waste would be installed in at least 

10 service stations later this year. The aim is 

to make the practice much more convenient 

for families who have complained about a 

lack of recycling facilities in the capital. 

“Petrol stations are an ideal place to have 

collection points”, said Craig Halgreen, the 

Vice President of Global Communications 

for Borouge, which has been working with 

ADNOC on the project. “It makes a lot of 

sense when you have a plastic producer and 

someone with lots of locations throughout 

the UAE like ADNOC team up and provide 

a point of collection and also segregation.” 

tOtAL Uganda and MtN enter partnership 

TOTAL Uganda and MTN, Uganda’s biggest 

telecommunications firm with 6 million 

subscribers in its network, have signed an 

enhanced partnership which will place 

MTN’s products and services in more than 

129 TOTAL petrol stations. TOTAL Uganda 

Managing Director, Mamadou Ngom, said 

the partnership would take advantage of 

the fuel company’s extended network fol- 

fuel station tendering boosts competition in 

the Hong Kong fuel market 

Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau 

informed lawmakers that two new operators 

have obtained 24 of the 37 petrol station sites 

put up for tender since the introduction of 

new tendering arrangements in June 2003, 

showing the arrangements have enhanced 

competition in the fuel market. The share of 

the three biggest operators in terms of the 

number of petrol stations has dropped from 

93 percent to 74 percent. On the supply of 

petrol with different octane levels, Mr Yau 

said the Air Pollution Control (Motor Vehicle 

Fuel) Regulation specifies that the octane 

level of petrol for motor vehicles should not 

be lower than 95. “Using petrol with an oc- 

Emarat launches a charity campaign and a 

‘No smoking day’ for women 

A campaign that aims to collect old clothes 

in 16 service stations around Dubai has been 

launched by Emarat. The used clothes will be 

then distributed to the poor and needy around 

the world in cooperation with an international 

charity establishment. Mr. Hussain Kazim, 

Manager Corporate Communications at 

Emarat, said that the Corporation endeavors 

to help the needy and poor everywhere and 

to support them in any way it can, especially 

in the areas where poverty prevails. As such, 

Emarat is very proud to launch this humane 

initiative that can be a helping hand to those 

in need. Mr. Kazim also said that the initiative 

was met with encouragement as was evident 

in the large numbers of contributions made. 

4 LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 

lowing last year’s acquisition of Caltex. “Our 

objective is to offer more services to our 

customers at the Bonjour shops. We will 

have a streamlined relationship which will 

be fruitful to all our customers by providing 

an all-in-one solution”, said Ngoum. 

The initial range will include airtime cards 

and electronic vouchers. There are plans to 

expand the range later. 

tane level that fits the engine performance 

of vehicles can help reduce air pollution”, he 

added. The consultancy report on the autofuel 

retail market issued in 2006 explored the 

suggestion of supplying petrol with different 

octane levels. Having considered the size of 

petrol filling stations as well as the scale of 

the Hong Kong market, the report did not recommend 

requiring retailers to simultaneously 

provide petrol of two different octane levels. 

On the retail price of petrol, Mr Yau said it 

is determined by the free market. Suppliers 

will take a view on the types of products to be 

provided having regard to customer demand 

and other market factors. 

People have deposited all the clothes that they 

don’t need in the special containers located at 

the service stations. He further added that more 

contributions are expected as the awareness 

of the campaigns is being raised, especially 

that such initiatives help people dispose of 

the clothes that they do not need and allow 

them to participate at the same time in a 

humane and noble cause, in addition to the 

protection of the environment. Also, as part 

of the “World No Tobacco Day 2010” Emarat 

sponsored a ‘No Smoking Women’ campaign 

launched by Dubai Municipality. Emirates 

General Petroleum Corporation sponsors the 

awareness campaign “No Smoking Women” 

organized by the Dubai Municipality as 

participation in the “World No Tobacco Day 

2010”, on 31st May 2010 on which Emarat 

shall cease selling cigarettes and other tobacco 

products in its various stores and shall launch 

an awareness campaign in its service stations 

in Dubai during which all the employees 

at these stations will wear special T-Shirts 

with a massage incorporating the slogan of 

the campaign.


EUrOPEAN NEws 

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Hotel Rey Juan Carlos, Business & City Resort 

Barcelona, 10 – 12 May 2011

Emarat shares its retail experience with a delegation 

from AdNOC 

A delegation from the ADNOC Distribution 

Company visited Emirates General Petroleum 

Corporation “Emarat” to observe the 

procedures and processes adopted by the 

Corporation in the fields of service stations 

management, in addition to the best practices 

followed regarding environment protection, 

safety, health and maintenance. Mr. Abdulla 

Hassan Al Noman, Manager, Retail Sales 

Private fuel retailers to make positive margin 

on sales after deregulation in India 

Essar Oil, Reliance Industries, Shell Petroleum 

and state-run Mangalore Refineries and 

Petrochemicals have, at present, one wish in 

common – making positive margins on the 

sale of auto fuel and to scale up their fuel 

retail outlets. These companies are waiting 

for the government to take a final decision 

on deregulation of fuel prices, which would 

not only allow them to regain their market 

share in fuel retailing but also help them 

make a gross margin of 1 000 rupees per 

kilolitre. At present, the gross margin on 

sale of every litre of auto fuel is zero. Post 

deregulation, it would be a rupee per litre. 

Net margin would be 40 paise on each litre 

sold. Essar Oil, which has 1 341 outlets operational, 

is selling petrol and diesel at 4 rupees 

and 2.50 rupees a litre, respectively, in all 

states, except Gujarat and Karnataka. The 

company plans to scale up its retail outlets 

to 1 700 by March 2011. But, if the prices are 

deregulated, the company says it might be 

able to achieve the target by this December. 

“We had recommended that there should be 

total freeing of petrol prices, while in diesel, 

we welcome total decontrol, in a phased manner. 

The outcome of the next meeting (of the 

empowered group of ministers) will decide 

the pace of our ramp-up. Private players are 

not in the market due to government’s fuel 

News from south America 

EnergíaPetrobras’ Argentinean subsidiary 

announced that it has agreed to sell 110 

million dollars worth of its refining and distribution 

assets to Oil Combustibles Energía 

Petrobras, a Brazilian state oil company, began 

its negotiations with Oil Combustibles, a 

part of Grupo Indalo, which includes a food 

production and commercialization group, was 

created in 2001 to offer operation services and 

administration for oil operations companies. 

According to a Petrobras executive, the board 

Operations at Emarat, welcomed the dele - 

gation, expressing that Emarat is open to 

cooperate and to share its experience in establishing 

and managing service stations, in addition 

to quality control systems implemented 

at the corporation. Emarat is committed to 

the highest quality standards and criteria 

of service, health and safety, in addition to 

environment protection. 

pricing policy. A level playing field will help 

firm up their market presence”, said an Essar 

Oil official. It has two percent market share 

in the retail fuel segment. Analysts say the 

proposed price deregulation of auto fuels, if 

implemented, would be positive for Reliance 

and Essar. “Fuel price deregulation could lead 

to nil under-recoveries on auto fuels, as the 

entire burden would shift to the consumers. 

While deregulation of the petrol prices is a 

possibility, chances of deregulation of diesel 

prices are less, considering its impact on 

inflation and given that 15 percent of the 

total diesel consumption is for agricultural 

purposes”, said a Mumbai-based Analyst. Sector 

analysts say Reliance in particular, could 

ramp up its retail operations at a much faster 

pace. “Reliance might take only a couple of 

quarters to regain its lost market share, as in 

the past, in a matter of less than four years, 

the company was able to ramp up its share 

in the diesel segment to 14 percent”, said an 

analyst who tracks Reliance closely. Reliance, 

in its fourth quarter results, said it had over 

650 retail outlets operational. It has 1 400odd 

retail fuel stations across the country 

and today has less than one per cent of retail 

market share. Shell India, which has 40 of 

its total 80 retail outlets operational, might 

also look at re-opening the balance outlets. 

Brazil’s Petrobras to sell assets in Argentina 

of directors for Energía Petrobras approved 

the terms and conditions of the sale agreement 

with Oil Combustibles for its refining 

business, which is located in San Lorenzo, 

Santa Fe, as well as the reverie unit and 

marketing network which consist of 360 fuel 

retail outlets and customers partners linked 

to the refinery. The sale deadline is estimated 

to take 90 days to finalize, and is subject to 

obtaining the administrative permits required 

by Argentinean law. 



Kss enters Austra lasian 

markets 

KSS Ltd, the provider of pricing software, 

analytics and consulting services to fuels 

retailers and wholesalers, announced that 

it has received orders for its PriceNet retail 

fuels pricing system for Australia and New 

Zealand, under its global agreement with a 

multinational fuels supplier and marketer. 

In addition to significantly expanding 

the footprint of PriceNet usage within 

the aforementioned customer, this latest 

development in KSS business will provide 

a platform for the company to serve the 

pricing and performance management 

needs of fuels retailers and wholesalers 

in the Asia-Pacific region. 

PEtrOAssIst installs 

sMArtfLEX pipes in 

Angola’s largest site 

PETROASSIST (Portugal) has recently 

completed the biggest service station in 

Angola using SMARTFLEX pipe and fitting 

system. The station is located in its 

capital city Luanda and is owned by the 

oil company SONANGOL. Nupigeco was 

on site to follow the training of installers 

and the installation. NUPI Group has also 

announced that it is producing PE pipes in 

China together with its joint venture GECO 

Shanghai. PE pipe from Ø 20 to Ø 400 will 

be produced according to the production 

program of composite pipes in China. 

A day without fuel 

subsidies in Brunei 

On one day last month, motorists in Brunei 

paid the commercial market rates when 

purchasing petrol from filling stations, as 

the government retracted its fuel subsidies 

for just one day. The one-day taste of life 

without fuel subsidies is one of the campaigns 

which the Energy Division at the 

Prime Minister’s Office came up with to 

mark Energy Day. A senior officer from the 

Energy Division informed that the campaign 

hoped to “open the eyes” of Bruneians to 

the importance of energy subsidies to the 

community and garner greater public appreciation 

for such resources. In 2008, the 

government subsidised a total of US $ 340 

million in fuel for vehicles, including diesel, 

Regular 84, Super 92 and Premium 97. The 

previous year, Brunei spent US $ 202 million 

on fuel subsidies, a marked increase 

from the US $ 50 million spent in 2004. 

7


Industry pioneer retires 

from durapipe 

Dennis O’Dea has recently retired after a 

sterling term of service of over 32 years with 

Durapipe UK. Dennis joined the company 

back in 1978 as a Technical Sales Engineer 

following stints firstly in the Merchant Navy 

and working for the family engineering business. 

During his time at Durapipe, Dennis 

has been a true pioneer in developing a vast 

array of different polyethylene based pipework 

systems, including the innovative Durapipe 

PLX system that is now widely used across 

the World in both forecourt and many other 

industrial applications. Dennis was also responsible 

for the introduction of Protecta-line, 

a specialist pipework system to preserve water 

quality in contaminated ground. During his 

retirement, Dennis intends to spend time with 

his wife & family whilst further engaging his 

passion for motor cycles, travel & home cooking. 

erpec and erpecnews wishes him well. 

sonangol could increase 

stake in Galp 

Angola’s national oil company Sonangol should 

bolster its stake in Portugal’s Galp Energia 

as part of its strategy to expand its business 

abroad, Angola’s Oil Minister was cited as 

saying last month. Angolan weekly newspaper 

O Pais quoted Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos as 

saying Sonangol, Galp and Brazil’s Petrobras 

were in talks to create a “strong partnership” 

to develop both upstream and downstream 

projects. Asked whether he thought Sonangol 

would succeed in increasing its stake 

in Galp, Botelho de Vasconcelos replied: 

“I think so as there are advantages for everyone 

involved.” Sonangol owns a 45 percent 

stake in Portugal’s Amorim Energia, which 

in turn holds 33 percent of Galp. The head of 

Sonangol, Manuel Vicente, said in February 

there was a possibility that Sonangol could 

bolster its stake in Galp. Italy’s Eni has said 

that it would sell its 33 percent stake in Galp 

if it fails to gain control of the Portuguese 

company. There have been reports in the 

Portuguese media on Petrobras and Sonangol’s 

growing interest in Eni’s stake in Galp. 

statoil is top choice 

Statoil is at the top of the rankings in the 

2010 Universum student survey. Norwegian 

students ranked the company as number one 

in the fields of Technology and Economy and 

in the top ten for IT. The results showed a 

continuing history of strength, with a first 

place finish for the ninth year in a row in 

Economy adding to fourteen years as student’s 

first choice in Technology. 

LUKOIL to buy large INA stake from MOL 

Russian oil company LUKOIL intends to buy 

a large chunk of the 47.2 percent stake of 

Hungary’s MOL in Croatian INA to resolve 

a long-standing legal dispute between Serbia 

and Croatia. LUKOIL acquired a 79.5 percent 

stake in Serbian petroleum company Beopetrol 

for 207 million euros in 2003, paying 117 

million euros for the package, and pledging 

an 85 million euros five-year investment programme 

and to spend at least 5 million euros 

on social programmes. The other contender 

in the tender was Hungary’s MOL. A previously 

suspended lawsuit over the ownership 

of Beopetrol was re-launched last month in 

Belgrade. The lawsuit had been launched by 

Croatia that claimed Beopetrol – originally 

tOtAL and ErG get go ahead in Italy 

TOTAL SA and Italian oil refiner ERG SpA have secured an EU regulatory approval for 

their refining and marketing joint venture in Italy. The joint venture, to be called Totalerg, 

will have a retail market share of nearly 13 percent with over 3 400 service stations in the 

euro zone’s third-largest economy, the companies have said. 

8 

LAtEst NEws, ALtErNAtIvE EvENts, fUEL JOBs NEws ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 

– www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 

founded by INA – became a Serbian asset in 

the early 1990s at the collapse of Yugoslavia 

illegally. At that time Beopetrol had 167 filling 

stations, 11 storage units and 11 other properties 

that Croatia claimed rightfully belonged 

to INA. The company also demands US $ 93 

million in damages, plus interest. 

In 2002, Beopetrol operated almost 200 filling 

stations and eight tank farms with a total 

capacity of nearly 30 000 cubic metres. In that 

year, Beopetrol distributed 390 000 tonnes 

of automobile fuel, controlling – with more 

than 1 500 employees – about 20 percent of 

Serbia’s retail fuel market. Beopetrol’s annual 

turnover totalled US $ 277 million in 2002. 

Serbian analyst Branko Pavlovic said that 

while the Croatian claim is legally sound, the 

case could be settled in “an entirely different 

way”. “I suppose that LUKOIL will buy a 

substantial part of MOL’s INA stake and so 

the dispute could be resolved in-house”, he 

said. MOL owns 47.2 percent of INA, with 

the Croatian government holding almost 

45 percent and 8 percent is in the hands of 

private investors. 

tNK-BP acquired Ukrainian retail network “vik Oil” 

TNK-BP announces completion of a deal 

to acquire 100 percent of “Vik Oil” group 

of companies in Ukraine. “Vik Oil” owns 

118 fuel stations in thirteen Ukrainian 

regions, as well as 8 oil depots, 49 petrol 

tankers and 122 land plots in various 

stages of development. The deal totaled 

approximately US $ 313 million including 

the price of shares and debt securities of 

the “Vik Oil” group, as well as the cost 

of working capital (including oil product 

inventory) and a number of auxiliary assets 

which became part of the deal in the 

ExxonMobil Esso testing new operating mode in france 

Esso SAF is trialling dealer-owned or operated 

service stations in the western Atlantic region 

of France in the forthcoming months. If this 

pilot project proves successful, it will affect 

78 service stations in the region, but not its 

motorway stations. This is likely to be connected 

course of its realization. The deal received 

the approval of the Ukrainian Antimonopoly 

Committee. “For the ten years of its operation 

in the Ukrainian market TNK-BP has 

consistently invested in the development of 

its retail network. The acquisition of the 

“Vik Oil” group is a landmark event for our 

company and the deal is in line with the 

strategy for expansion of our business in 

Ukraine. We can state today that TNK- 

BP is present in nearly all the regions of 

Ukraine”, said German Khan, Executive 

Director of TNK-BP. 

with the company’s intention to move towards 

a dealer-owned or dealer-operated distribution 

model. To date, Esso SAF has not decided to 

extend this test to the rest of its network of 

service stations in France but confirmed it 

intends to maintain its network.

slovenia energy group, Petrol, plans to invest 

428 million euros in the Balkans 

Slovenian energy group Petrol will invest in 

Slovenia and Southeast European markets 

a total of 428 million euros by the end of 

2014, Petrol chairman Aleksander Svetelsek 

informed the press in Zagreb. He added that 

the group would invest 75 million euros in 

Croatia and employ an additional 300 people 

there. Svetelsek said at Petrol’s first press 

shell aiming to surpass BP in Germany 

Shell has reached an agreement to purchase 

44 service stations from leading German 

grocer, Edeka. The acquisition would enhance 

Shell’s position in Germany as it looks to fend 

off the threat of supermarket fuel retailers, 

and pull ahead of its main rival, BP-owned 

Aral. However, in such a concentrated market, 

doubts remain as to whether the deal will 

be approved by the competition authorities 

Each of the service stations in question are 

located at Edeka’s Marktkauf supermarkets 

and if acquired would be re-branded and 

operated by Shell. Customers purchasing 

goods at Edeka stores with a Shell service 

station would be able to receive a discount 

of 2 percent per litre on fuel. The proposed 

acquisition would leave Edeka with 56 service 

stations, and increase the number of Shell 

branded sites in Germany to 2 240. However, 

this still wouldn’t be enough to overtake Aral 

which has over 2 300 branded sites. Despite 

Aral having the largest network, both Shell 

and Aral are neck and neck in terms of fuel 

market share, with both retailers each accounting 

for 23 percent of fuel sales in the 

country. For Edeka, the proposed sale comes 

as no great surprise. Edeka is increasingly 

focusing on its discount stores as it attempts 

conference ever in Croatia that the group 

was planning to develop its retail activities 

through filling stations and to make it among 

the top three fuel retailers in Southeast 

Europe. According to him, the Petrol group 

intends to increase annual revenues each 

year by 10 percent. Svetelsek also announced 

that Petrol would start selling in Croatia on 

July 1st its next-generation fuels, which have 

been already introduced in Slovenia. Of the 

mentioned 428 million euros, 54 percent 

will be invested in fuel retail activities in 

Southeast Europe and 17 percent in Slovenia, 

while 29 percent will be invested in retail of 

gas and other energy products. 

to challenge Aldi and Lidl with its own discount 

grocery chains, Netto and Plus. For 

Shell, the deal could move the fuel retailer 

above Aral in Germany, in terms of fuel 

market share – something which is unlikely 

to happen simply through organic growth. 

The acquisition would also be positive for 

Shell (and other oil company branded fuel 

retailers in the country) as it would reduce 

the threat, however small, of supermarket 

fuel retailers in the country. 

On the other hand, the deal may be a blow for 

forecourt competition in Germany. Less than 

1 percent of fuel sold in Germany is through 

supermarket sites, although 15 percent of 

German motorists in a recent Datamonitor 

survey reported they have been increasingly 

using supermarkets, believing them to be 

cheaper. It is partly for these reasons that 

the deal could still be blocked by competition 

authorities based on concerns that Shell 

and Aral are too powerful. Indeed, in 2009 

French oil company Total was refused permission 

to acquire 59 sites in East Germany 

from Austrian oil company OMV, as the deal 

threatened to strengthen its position as well 

as market leaders Shell and Aral. 

topaz chooses Kss for fuel price management 

Topaz, Ireland’s largest fuels and convenience 

retailer with more than 300 sites, has selected 

a suite of KSS products to provide day-to-day 

fuel price management and optimization to 

its retail locations. Topaz will use PriceNet, 

PriceNet Mobile, PriceNet Web, KSS Visualizer 

and KSS Mapping solutions for a fully 

integrated fuel price management offering. 

“We selected these KSS solutions to obtain the 

highest level of efficiency around our execution 

of fuel price changes. Having a system that 

provides enhanced market responsiveness will 

enable us to improve our overall performance 

around fuel volume and margin”, said Frank 

Gleeson, Retail Director for Topaz. “We are 

convinced that these KSS solutions offer 

our stores a ‘best practices’ approach to fuel 

pricing. We are delighted to have Topaz as a 

new partner and are eager to help them to 

enhance their position as a global leader in 

convenience retailing and improve profits”, 

said Bob Stein. 


LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 9


Eni Agip gets approval 

to buy ExxonMobil network 

in Austria 

Italian oil giant Eni, which is present in 

Austria through Agip, has received formal 

approval by the European Commission to 

buy ExxonMobil’s downstream business in 

the country. The deal includes a network 

of 135 Esso retail service stations as well 

as ExxonMobil’s industrial and wholesale 

business with 36 additional Esso branded 

retail service stations owned by resellers. 

London will see ‘green’ 

black cabs in time for 

2012 Olympics 

Zero-emission black cabs will be on the 

roads in time to show London’s green credentials 

to the world, as people converge on 

the capital for the 2012 Olympics. Clean, 

near-silent electric motors will be used in 

the vehicles, which will have “fuel cell” batteries 

charged by converting hydrogen into 

electricity. The cabs will emit only water 

vapour. The taxis, able to travel at up to 

80 mph, will be capable of running for a day 

without refuelling. Six specialist hydrogen 

filling stations will be constructed around 

the capital. London Taxis International, 

Intelligent Energy and other partners are 

working together to produce the new cabs. 

Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse said: “The 

black cab is a London icon but it is also a 

source of pollution. This prototype, which 

emits only water from its tailpipe, is a glimpse 

of how hydrogen technology could soon 

play a vital role in cleaning up air quality.” 

sOCAr in partnership 

with AP Petroleum 

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan 

( SOCAR) has drawn a foreign operator to 

develop its own network of filling stations 

in the country. SOCAR informed that the 

network is run by its sub-company SOCAR 

Petroleum, operating in alliance with foreign 

partner AP Petroleum. Earlier this 

year, SOCAR opened its first three filling 

stations and intends to bring the network 

up to 10 petrol stations by this September 

with its target being to double the number 

of stations by mid-2011. 

E.U. announces tighter controls on Biofuels 

The European Commission have announced 

a quality-certification process for biofuels 

and ethanol and clarifying limits on fuels 

from sensitive areas like forests and partly 

drained peat lands. Ensuring that biofuels are 

a credible source of low-carbon energy that 

deliver greenhouse gas savings compared with 

fossil fuels is a key component of European 

Union efforts to set standards worldwide for 

lowering emissions over the next 10 years. 

Europe plans to rely on biofuels to “do most 

of the work” reducing emissions from cars 

and trucks, the commission, the executive 

arm of the European Union, said in a statement 

last month. Reducing transportation 

emissions was “particularly hard to achieve 

and reliance on imported oil is particularly 

high”, it said. The 27 member countries of 

the European Union agreed two years ago 

to generate 10 percent of their transportation 

fuel from renewable sources by 2020. A 

large proportion is supposed to come from 

biofuels. The remainder would come from 

other sources, like electric vehicles. 

But the green credentials of the policy were 

badly dented as energy experts issued a stream 

of reports suggesting that many of the biofuels 

on the market were causing more emissions 

than conventional fuels if the full emissions 

costs of producing the fuels were taken into 

account. A sudden spike in food prices at 

about the same time served to highlight the 

potentially negative effects biofuels, which 

some experts said were displacing food crops 

and making corn, wheat and soy harder to 

obtain for human nutritional needs. Some 

companies that import palm oil into Europe 

have already made commitments to follow 

sustainability guidelines under development 

by environmental groups and by industry 

groups. Mr. Oettinger’s (E.U. energy commissioner) 

endorsement represents a way for the 

commission to certify that those guidelines 

meet E.U. standards, and commission officials 

said he planned to call on companies to apply 

for the quality stamp before year-end. The 

announcement is Mr. Oettinger’s first major 

policy statement on renewable energy. Commission 

officials said the statement showed his 

commitment to restoring the green credentials 

of the fuels. 

Mr. Oettinger also attempted to clarify that 

companies must not interpret existing E.U. 

rules to cut down forests or sow crops on 

partly drained peat lands for biofuels, commission 

officials said. Even partly drained 

peat land still contains significant amounts 

of stored carbon, which can escape as carbon 

dioxide gas once the land is cultivated and 

contribute to climate change. But the tighter 


rules on peat lands could anger countries like 

Indonesia and Malaysia, which are the major 

suppliers of palm oil used to make biodiesel 

for European motorists. Officials said trade 

experts at the commission had established 

that the measures would be compatible with 

international trade rules, partly because they 

would apply equally to biofuels producers 

growing crops inside and outside the bloc. 

Mr. Oettinger’s quality stamp, “Recognized 

by the European Union”, also could prove 

controversial. He still must reach a decision 

on how to calculate the emissions created 

when food crops have been displaced by 

fuel crops, and when areas containing high 

stores of carbon like grasslands, peat lands 

or forests are chopped down to produce the 

food crops elsewhere. 

E.U. officials said Mr. Oettinger’s stamp 

could include criteria on Indirect Land Use 

Change, in the jargon of emissions experts, 

once he decides on the scale of its effects at 

the end of this year. But experts warned that 

the stamp risked ending up being criticized 

for legitimizing unsustainable practices. A 

“labeling system which is not dealing with 

the indirect effects will not be regarded as 

a guarantee for sustainability”, said Jan Ros, 

Project Leader for bioenergy at the Netherlands 

Environmental Assessment Agency, a 

Dutch national institute for environmental 

research and planning. “The real challenge 

is to find biofuels that do not create these 

indirect effects like fuels from crops grown 

on degraded lands or fuels generated from 

waste products”, Mr. Ros said. E.U. officials 

said the stamp would be added to the labels 

used by sustainability programs managed 

by governments, civil society organizations 

or industry bodies that meet E.U. criteria. 

Although the certification would last for five 

years, it would also rely on annual checks 

done by outside auditors, but those audits 

would be paid for by fuel producers. 

Companies would also be free to decide how 

to display the stamp, and that could limit its 

use to farmers and processors. But commission 

officials said they were hopeful that fuel companies 

would also begin voluntarily displaying the 

label at fuel pumps, so that motorists seeking 

greener options would feel assured that their 

purchase was making a contribution to the 

environment. Commission officials also said 

they wanted to use a light touch in regulating 

how biofuels were labeled, so that companies 

achieving higher-than-average reductions in 

greenhouse gases compared with fossil fuels, 

or companies applying even more ambitious 

sustainability criteria, could devise their own 

certification programs.



11

12 LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM

Hellenic Petroleum receives support from EI Bank 

The European Investment Bank has provided 

a total of 400 million euros to Hellenic 

Petroleum SA, for increased production of 

cleaner fuels through upgrading the Elefsina 

refinery. At the signing ceremony in Athens, 

EIB Vice-President Plutarchos Sakellaris said: 

“We provide this financing to benefit both 

development and environment in Greece, in 

our capacity as the European Union’s bank. 

In order to counteract the impact of the crisis 

on the Greek and European economies, 

we are increasing significantly our lending. 

Loans for cleaner energy form an integral 

and important part of our extended offering. 

This underlines once again the key role that 

entrepreneurial activity plays in strengthening 

the structural competitiveness of the 

European economy. There is no doubt that 

this investment acts as a vital link in the 

innovation chain, creating employment and 

raising the level of job qualifications, while 

reducing fuel imports. This productive investment 

improves atmospheric conditions 

through state-of-the-art refining technology 

and increasing cleaner fuel production. We 

service stations on 

highways in Cyprus! 

The government of Cyprus is looking into the 

prospect of creating service stations along 

the length of the main highway. In a letter of 

response to Environmental Commissioner 

Charalambos Theopemptou, the ministry said 

it was examining the possibility of building 

stations with toilets, resting areas, restaurants 

and petrol stations. As a preliminary measure, 

the aim is to create toilets in current weighing 

stations until tender procedures can 

be launched for private developers to build 

proper service stations, like those in the rest 

of Europe. Earlier this month a letter was 

sent to the ministry saying there had been 

complaints by tourists, who rent cars and are 

shocked to find there are no resting areas to 

use the toilet or fill up on petrol. In some cases, 

service station signs on the highway actually 

lead to private restaurants or cafeterias. The 

lack of proper resting areas is also a problem 

for professional drivers, who are often on the 

roads for hours on end. 

OPw achieves IsO certi - 

fication in Czech rep 

shell improves business intelligence with sAP 

Shell has implemented a new analysis and 

reporting platform for its global operation. As 

reported, Shell has gone live with a set of SAP 

Business Objects Business Intelligence tools 

which are already used by 3 500 employees. 

Implementation partner is Accenture. By September, 

the new platform is planned to have 

are pleased to have Hellenic Petroleum, one 

of the most important players in SE Europe 

as a partner in this effort.” 

Mr. Tassos Giannitsis, Hellenic Petroleum’s 

Chairman commented: “We are very pleased 

to be partners with the European Investment 

Bank in the cornerstone of our investment 

program, the upgrade of our Elefsina refinery. 

This 1.2 billion euros investment, the largest 

industrial investment ever in Greece improves 

competitiveness, creates new employment, 

produces better and environmentally friendlier 

products, reduces imports and increases exports 

and importantly improves the environmental 

performance of the refinery by substantially 

reducing all emissions. Project implementation 

is on track with completion expected in 

the second half of next year. In very difficult 

times for our country, Hellenic Petroleum is 

committed to implementing its strategy for 

growth and competitiveness which involves 

a major investment program of over 2 billion 

euros in 2009-11 focused on our refining and 

marketing businesses and a major performance 

improvement initiative.” 

OPW Fueling Components EMEA has 

achieve ISO 14001:2004 certification for 

expanded Czech Republic manufacturing 

plant. Formerly known as OPW Fueling 

Components Europe, the company has announced 

it has achieved ISO 14001:2004 

certification for its manufacturing plant in 

the Czech Republic, while also having its 

ISO 9001:2008 certificate renewed. ISO 

14001:2004 is awarded to companies that 

meet ISO-established guidelines for energymanagement 

systems at their plants. To 

achieve ISO 14001:2001 certification, OPW 

had to present to ISO a framework for a 

holistic, strategic approach to environmental 

policy, plans and actions as they would apply 

to the Czech Republic facility. OPW also 

had to show a commitment to comply with 

applicable environmental legislation and 

regulations, along with making a commitment 

to continual improvement in its energy 

systems at the Klasterec plant. 

a total of 6 500 users. Shell wants to get rid 

of reports delivered in Excel and PowerPoint 

completely and standardise its data deployment 

globally. The mineral oil company uses the 

Business Objects applications Crystal Reports, 

Web Intelligence, Xcelsius Enterprise on the 

base of SAP’s middleware Netweaver. 



Greece taken to court 

The European Commission decided, on 

5 May, to refer Greece to the EU Court 

of Justice over its rules restricting the 

establishment of petrol stations. Greek 

legislation prohibits the establishment of 

petrol stations near certain public places, 

such as shops or residences, while allowing 

it near others, such as offices and hotels, 

thereby limiting competition and choice for 

consumers. It imposes minimum distances 

between a new petrol station and an existing 

one, therefore limiting the entry of new 

operators. The authorisation procedure for 

petrol stations requires the applicant to 

provide a fire certificate that can be issued 

only by ‘certified’ Greek expert engineers. 

The Commission sent a reasoned opinion 

to Greece, in June 2009, asking it to comply 

with EU law. As no satisfactory reply was 

received, the executive has decided to take 

the case to the court. 

Petrotec wins ‘Best 

Innovation Award’ 

World leader in digital security, Gemalto 

is a business partner of Petrotec, offering 

solutions designed to make personal 

interactions more convenient, secure and 

enjoyable. Its portfolio ranges from the development 

of POS Terminals and software 

applications to the design and production 

of secure personal devices such as smart 

cards, SIM Cards, e-passports and tokens. 

Says Petrotec, a key reason for winning the 

award was the incorporation of the Gemalto 

Magic³X-8 terminal, as an integral part of 

Petrotec Microsys, a management solution 

for petrol stations. Microsys is the first 

fully integrated global system which allows 

the management of IFSF fuel dispensing 

pumps and EMV / PCI payment methods, 

housed in a single terminal that fits in the 

hand of the operator. A solution that drew 

fulsome praise in Carte 2009, the largest 

showcase of technology held in France, in 

late 2009. The new generation of Magic³ 

POS terminals was also honoured as the 

choice of the largest Portuguese bank for a 

recent contract to supply about 3 000 units. 

waitrose in Bahrain 

UK supermarket group, Waitrose has 

announced it will be opening a new store 

in Bahrain after it saw strong sales at its 

first Middle East venture in Dubai. The 

food store, which is part of the John Lewis 

Partnership, said it saw an increase of 

60 percent in sales on last year at its two 

Dubai branches, which opened in 2008. 

13



All text on this page is submitted and written by suppliers. Please email product news to editor@erpecnews.com 

Mark vII acquires Advantek in Ontario 

Mark VII Equipment Inc., the U.S. subsidiary 

of WashTec AG of Germany, a leading 

producer of vehicle washing equipment 

worldwide, has announced that it has acquired 

the assets of former PDQ distributor 

Advantek Inc. and opened direct operations 

in Toronto, Ontario. 

“We welcome the Advantek team to the Mark 

VII family”, said Murray Kennedy, CEO of 

Mark VII. “They’re one of the most successful 

carwash distributors in Ontario and have 

a reputation for providing great service to 

multi-site operators with different brands of 

PEC fuel Pumps to develop vapour recovery 

management system 

A grant from the Australian government for 

almost US $ 1 million will allow PEC to refine 

further technology to stop fuel vapours being 

lost into the atmosphere when motorists 

fill their tanks at petrol stations. PEC Fuel 

Pumps will get US $ 961 000 from the Foundation 

for Research, Science and Technology 

to develop the system so it can be used at a 

range of petrol pumps throughout the world. 

PEC Managing Director Richard Coxon 

Indigo I-POs is a real asset! 

I-POS is an in-house developed stand-alone 

till system developed with the small to 

medium sized c-store operation in mind. It 

features scanning and promotions management 

with all sales and maintenance administered 

through the touch screen. I-POS was 

recently installed at a UK convenience store 

company, Chapmans and with minimal training 

and after the smooth install, the client 

said he found the I-POS extremely reliable 

and was impressed with the control he now 

has from the till. He said ‘I can manage my 

cash, create new products, and even print 

shelf edge labels from the till. The latest 

Amscreen signs another fuel chain 

Britain’s Amscreen is set to nearly double its 

presence in gas-station convenience stores 

through a deal with fuel retailer MRH, and 

believes its network could eventually reach 10 

million motorists weekly. Its “close-proximity 

signage” systems will be rolled out to 300 sites 

operated by the UK’s largest independent fuel 

retailer, and form part of the Amscreen Convenience 

Store Network. A similar contract 

earlier this year led to installation of Amscreen’s 

digital signage at 335 BP fuel stations. The 

new five-year deal sees Amscreen become 

equipment, which is a cornerstone of Mark 

VII’s strategy for servicing large accounts.” 

“We’re excited to team up with Mark VII and 

WashTec”, said Mike Johnston, President of 

Advantek. “We have strong relationships with 

both petroleum retailers and independent 

operators throughout Ontario, and we look 

forward to continuing to serve them as part 

of the global leader in the carwash industry.” 

Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Arvada, 

Colorado., Mark VII is a wholly owned 

subsidiary of WashTec AG of Germany, a 

producer of vehicle washing equipment. 

said the money should allow the company 

to expand beyond its traditional markets of 

New Zealand and Australia. He went on to 

say “Fuel vapours are already recovered when 

fuel is distributed from tankers to service 

stations, but they are normally lost from 

motorists’ vehicles at the pumps. It has been 

estimated that, worldwide, 1.3 trillion litres 

of fuel vapours escape when people fill their 

vehicle tanks at petrol stations”. 

touch-screen technology means my cashiers 

find the system easy to use and mistakes are 

minimised. We’re celebrating 100 years of 

trading this year and I think the I-POS will 

be a real asset to us as we start the next 100! 

Baljit Tank, Managing Director of Indigo 

Retail commented “I’m delighted with the 

success of the I-POS so far. Our investment 

in developing a solution for c-store retailers 

who don’t need all the functionality of a till 

and back office system, is enabling business 

people to benefit from the latest developments 

in hardware and software technology at a 

price that suits their business.” 

the exclusive supplier of digital signage to 

MRH, which runs fuel stations across Britain 

under the BP, Esso, Jet, Shell, Texaco and 

Total brands. Reaching more than 2 million 

drivers weekly, the screens will carry advertising 

from national and regional advertisers, as 

well as promotions for MRH’s products and 

services and information such as traffic news. 

Amscreen CEO Simon Sugar said: “We believe 

the Amscreen Convenience Store Network ... 

potentially could reach in excess of 10 million 

motorists a week.” 


sUPPLIEr NEws 

Pro-sales car wash 

strategy boosts profit 

at petrol stations 

The company Pro-Sales Direct has successfully 

developed and applied a sales strategy 

across Australia and New Zealand that helps 

increase traffic, activity and revenue at petrol 

stations. They do this by passively engaging 

with potential customers, demonstrating and 

explaining the benefits of their unique product 

FW1; a waterless cleaning wax. Owner of 6 

independent BP sites across New Zealand, 

Bob Styles put the strategy into practice. 

Pro-Sales Direct pays him a fee to rent his 

forecourt space to provide his customers with 

their ‘retail demonstration’. After the trial, Mr 

Styles concluded that “It certainly is a benefit”. 

More info www.fw1.com.au 

LsI Industries launches 

Crossover 3 line 

LSI Industries has taken its Crossover canopy 

lighting to a whole new level with the creation 

of the Crossover Generation 3 line. The 

Gen 3 was developed to provide the absolute 

best LED lighting solution at the most affordable 

cost. The Crossover Gen 3 delivers 

a refined level of lighting performance and 

control, which is made possible by further 

advancements of LSI’s proprietary SmartTec 

technology, which is the intelligence platform 

that is built into every Crossover Gen 

3 canopy fixture. Crossover Gen 3 fixtures 

were designed to retrofit existing Scottsdale 

and Scottsdale-like fixtures without having 

to cut the canopy deck as well as for new 

construction. One of the leading benefits of 

the Crossover Generation 3 canopy fixture is 

the use of LSI’s innovative TriLume optics. 

The multiple optics and drive currents allow 

the site operator to choose the lighting 

that is best suited for the site’s environment. 

When those optics have been chosen, LSI’s 

simplified installation means that the Gen 

3 fixtures can be installed in less than half 

the normal time. Once they have been 

installed, sites will experience significantly 

lower operating and utility costs thanks to 

LSI’s SmartTec intelligent controls. These 

controls include sophisticated self-diagnostic 

intelligence that ensures a cool-running 

fixture as well as optional daylight sensing 

to eliminate “day burners” and occupancysensing 

to ensure the fixtures will dim when 

no presence is detected. The Crossover 

Generation 3 system is the result of LSI’s 

34-plus years of experience in delivering 

revolutionary lighting solutions, like the 

Scottsdale, designed specifically for the 

petroleum market. 

15

Chris Hallsworth, Global Category Manager, 

Contracting and Procurement: Retail Engineering, 

Automation and Real Estate for Shell 

Frequent visitors to London will know that 

there is one building on the South Bank of the 

River Thames, next to the London Eye and in 

front of Waterloo Station, which is extremely 

difficult to ignore, especially if you happen to 

be involved in the business of retail petroleum. 

With 27 floors and standing 107 metres high, 

towering above the thousands of tourists who 

walk past it every day, the Shell Centre is an 

icon in the Oil and Gas industry, but more 

to the point it was where I was to meet up 

with Chris Hallsworth, who after 23 years 

working with Shell in various capacities, finds 

himself heading up Global Contracting and 

Procurement for Retail Engineering, a sector 

he had only left 8 years previously, plus site 

automation and real estate. 

Re calling the time he was last involved with 

this market, Chris comments “From 1987 to 

2001 I had worked in the UK for Shell Retail, 

variously managing construction, maintenance 

and special projects, eventually setting up and 

managing the European Engineering Hub. 

This period spanned some exciting times for 

Retail Engineering and a progressive move 

away from local solutions to regional and global 

approaches. In those days a significant part of 

the job was what is now called Contracting and 

Procurement and in 2001 I moved to a newly 

established Global Procurement team where I 

led C&P stategy development for Shell’s Global 

Lubricants Business. As a development from 

this in 2004 I established and led a new company 

in Netherlands, Shell Lubricants Supply 

Company BV, as the centre of excellence and 

prime trading vehicle for Shell’s lubricant additives 

requirements. After enjoying my time 

in The Hague immensly I returned to the UK 

in 2009 to take up my current position, back 

with my alma mater, Retail.” I asked Chris if 

any one thing stands out as being different to 

when he last worked in this market, to which 

he answered, “Many things stand out. We tend 

to think of this industry as being quite slow 

moving and conservative but the changes in 

the 8 years I was away have been profound. 

Just 3 examples are that outsourcing has moved 

from tentative beginnings to being the norm, 

data of all types is much more available and 

robust, decision-making is based on Total Cost 

of Ownership and not just acquisition cost.” 

www.shell.com 

chris Hallsworth, Global category Manager, contracting and Procurement: retail engineering, Automation and real 

estate for shell, returning to the retail sector, after a gap of eight years, following his move to shell lubricants. 

Apart from chatting about old times, this I 

felt was a good opportunity to ask Chris about 

the structure of Shell’s C&P and Engineering 

departments, both of which have to be 

understood by suppliers should they become 

involved, or potentially involved in Shell’s 

retail business. Chris was quick to point out 

that two Project Management Companies 

(PMC’s) Coteba (headquartered in Paris) 

and SKM (headquartered in Kuala Lumpur) 

feature heavily in Shell’s operations around the 

world, although he added “Whilst driving our 

construction through PMC’s is our favoured 

approach, we are not yet covered in several 

emerging major markets like Russia, India or 

China. The overall objective is for Shell to drive 

the investment programme, standards, harmonisation, 

and those elements of procurement 

deemed strategic, whilst empowering selected 

third parties to manage non-core activities. 

Brand image, customer value proposition, 

standards and safety policy and objectives 

are kept tightly under our own control as 

each in its own way impacts on the value of 

the business.” Chris explains that the PMCs 

are specialists in managing and delivering 

large and complex multi-national programmes 

and they coordinate the designs, regulatory 

approvals, tender for building contractors and 

some equipment and supervise construction. 

In terms of specifying equipment and services 

used on sites throughout the world Shell has 

established three levels of control, which as 

mentioned earlier, reflects the need to keep 

An interview by Nick Needs 

certain activities close to their chest. The highest 

level, controlled by Shell, includes items 

such as fuel dispensers, pipe work systems 

and signage. The next level, controlled by the 

PMC includes appointing the construction 

companies and sourcing certain equipment 

categories such as underground storage tanks, 

canopies, shopfittings etc. The lowest level, 

most often dealt with by the main contractor, 

relates to essential commodities such 

as perimeter lighting, electrical switchgear, 

drainage items etc. Once the site is finished 

the keys are handed over to Johnson Controls 

Inc, who provide facilities management at the 

majority of company owned sites in Europe, 

Asia, Latin America and Canada. 

Supporting Chris at a Global level are, Yi-Boon 

Teoh (Category Manager, Design, Construction 

and Real Estate), Joseph van Calster (Site 

automation), Craig Robertson (Site equipment) 

and Andries Nelemans ( Site maintenance). 

Beyond this there are another 15 C&P professionals 

working at regional and country 

levels. On the subject of personnel I asked 

Chris what he thought of erpec, having first 

been at the event back in 1999 when it took 

place in Cannes, France. He said “erpec is 

ideal for me and some specific members of 

the team to meet and talk with companies 

on a European and global level that we don’t 

usually get a chance to see”. I would expect to 

see Shell represented in Barcelona next May 

for erpec 2011. Thank you Chris, we look 

forward to seeing you there. 

sHELL 

LAtEst NEws, LAtEst LAtEst EvENts, NEws, NEws, JOBs EvENts, EvENts, ONLINE JOBs JOBs – ONLINE www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 


17

fEAtUrE – tCI ENvIrONMENt INtErNAtIONAL Nv 

Flexible, non-metallic pipes for the under- 

ground LPG transport in service stations 

At a recent event Nick Needs spent some 

time with TCI Managing Director Francois 

Meersseman, who wanted to explain a new 

breakthrough in flexible non-metallic piping, 

some of which he understood and some of 

which required a little more explaining, but in 

the process Nick asked Francois if he would 

put together a short article on the subject, 

which is shown below. 

TCI Environment International nv, member 

of the CGH Group, is the first worldwide to 

introduce a real flexible, fibers re-enforced, 

thermoplastic pipe for the underground transport 

of LPG – Liquefied Petroleum Gas. This 

flexible pipe is based on the proven Thermoflex 

technology developed by Polyflow Inc. and 

successfully applied as tubing in the oil & 

gas industry. The Thermoflex – LPG pipe 

construction is comprised of three components. 

An inner liner of a special Nylon grade that 

is compatible with LPG in both liquid and 

vapour form. Aramid fibres provide all of the 

strength of the pipe. Many are aware of the 

poor creep (stretch under a load) properties of 

plastics in general and PE pipes in particular. 

Aramid fibres have exhibited excellent creep 

and strength properties as proven by their application 

in bullet proof vests and tire cords. 

Longitudinal fibres are applied to minimize 

stretch and radial braided fibres provide the 

by Francois Meersseman, Managing Director, TCI Environment Int. nv 

burst strength of the pipe. Locking the fibres 

at the ends of the pipe requires a coupling 

similar to a hydraulic hose fitting. The metal 

coupling that is swaged onto the pipe’s ends 

grabs the fibres and holds them in place. One 

should think of a pipe where the fibres are 

providing all of the strength with the polymers 

acting as a caulk filling in the holes around 

the braid. Unlike with PE pipes the wall 

thickness is not determining the strength of 

the Thermoflex – LPG pipe! 

The polypropylene outer jacket’s sole purpose is 

to provide an abrasion resistant layer to protect 

the braiding. Unlike with solid un-reinforced 

PE pipe’s, scratches, nicking, abrading, gouging 

etc. of the outer jacket does not degrade the 

physical properties of Thermoflex – LPG pipes. 

As long as the braiding is not damaged or cut, 

the integrity of the pipe remains unaffected. 

Traditionally, underground piping of LPG 

installations are welded in carbon steel tubes 

that needs to be protected against corrosion. 

TCI is the first worldwide to introduce a fibre 

re-enforced, flexible thermoplastic pipe that 

eliminates all the disadvantages and concerns 

related to steel tubing. 

TCI’s Thermoflex LPG pipes are installed underground 

always in continuous runs between 

tank & pump and dispenser, eliminating the 

delicate and time consuming jointing & welding 


work associated with steel tubing. The LPG 

pipes come in sizes DN20, DN25 and DN32; 

larger pipe sizes for tank offset fill lines and 

industrial butane / propane installations will 

be manufactured on request. The pipes and 

associated couplings have a rated pressure of 

500 psi – 35 bar with a 1,5 design safety factor. 

The LPG pipes were thoroughly tested 

and certified by INIG, the Polish Oil & Gas 

Institute in Krakow Poland. Thermoflex LPG 

pipes are supplied in coils of 200 metres or 

longer and are cut to the required length on the 

building site. Couplings are machine swaged 

on site. The installation and the testing are 

done in a few hours versus days when using 

steel tubing. Since its introduction in April 

2009 more than 20 installations are operational 

in Poland. Early in 2010, BK Gas in Belgium 

used this pipe to equip its LPG facility in a 

Q8 and a Shell site. Work on the first LPG 

pipe installation in Italy is currently underway. 

The Thermoflex LPG pipes offer: 

» No Corrosion 

» Strong, 35 bar rated pipe & couplings 

» Installed in continuous runs 

» Flexible, easy and fast to install 

» Less pressure drop than steel tubing 

» 30+ years life expectancy 

More info www.tci-e.com

drEssEr wAyNE 

LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 19


This month’s featured story from the UK’s Guardian national newspaper 

UK, Buncefield fire: Oil storage firm found guilty 

A company controlled by TOTAL and Chevron 

has been found guilty of host of grave safety 

failures that led to the Buncefield oil depot 

explosion and the largest fire in peacetime 

Europe. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited 

(HOSL), which was owned by the oil conglomerates, 

was found guilty of failing to prevent 

major accidents and limit their effects, it 

was revealed on June 18th.The guilty verdict 

followed one of the most complex corporate 

criminal trials of its kind and is a major blow 

for TOTAL, the major shareholder. 

It will also intensify global concern over the 

safety practices of international companies. 

BP’s Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, is under 

unrelenting pressure over safety lapses suspected 

to have caused the Deepwater Horizon 

oil rig disaster, the cause of the largest offshore 

oil spill in US history. The Buncefield blast 

on 11st December 2005 had a magnitude of 

2.4 and the subsequent plume which drifted 

across Europe was visible from space. The 

destruction at the depot came after a huge 

vapour cloud ignited when 250 000 litres of 

petrol leaked from one of its tanks. The explosion 

injured 43 people, destroyed homes and 

businesses and could be heard 125 miles away. 

Prosecutors said it was miraculous that there 

were no fatalities, a fact largely attributed to 

the accident happening early on a Sunday. 

The jury of 11 men and one woman were 

told that the environmental damage caused 

of safety breaches 

was still not known. The eight-week trial at 

St Albans crown court saw a range of criticisms 

of HOSL and TOTAL UK, which had 

three out of five directors on the company’s 

board and employed most of the staff on site. 

The court heard how there was no proper 

management chain at Buncefield, a failure 

to abide by baseline “good practice guidance”, 

“insufficient awareness” of the potential for an 

accident and no system for investigating near 

misses. Andrew Langdon QC, prosecuting in 

the Buncefield case on behalf of the Health 

and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, 

told the court that employers could have done 

much more to ensure staff could perform their 

jobs better at the site, near Hemel Hempstead. 

“Supervisors didn’t get much help or protection 

in what they did. They didn’t get any 

risk assessments worth their name – pretty 

essential you might think – how the tanks 

should be filled, how they should be emptied, 

what happens with all these considerations”, 

he said. Training manuals were found to be 

out of date and there was found to be a “degree 

of fatigue” among the supervisors tasked 

with keeping the depot safe. Contracts with 

companies who worked onsite were found to 

be insufficiently clear, with contractors unsure 

of lines of responsibly. 

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, the judge who 

presided over the case, summarised there 

had been “a large number of failures with 

systems and procedures on site”. HOSL was 

found guilty on the Wednesday, but the verdict 

could not be reported until the next day, when 

the company’s lawyers brought the trial to a 

premature end by pleading guilty to additional 

charges relating to the causing of pollution to 

LAtEst NEws, EvENts, JOBs JOBs ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 


fEAtUrEd stOry – BUNCEfIELd 

enter controlled waters underlying the vicinity 

around Buncefield. TOTAL, which owned 

a 60 percent stake in HOSL and previously 

admitted three health and safety breaches in 

connection with the explosion, and Chevron 

could be made to pay huge fines levied against 

HOSL when the company is sentenced next 

month. The charges carry unlimited fines, and 

the penalties could run into millions. 

Among the other companies implicated in 

the trial were the British Pipeline Agency, 

which admitted two charges relating to environmental 

damage. Guilty verdicts were also 

brought against two other companies linked 

to the Buncefield site. TAV Engineering, a 

Surrey-based company, designed a crucial 

safety-switch that should have alerted staff 

at the site that an oil tanker was over-flowing 

but failed. Motherwell Control Systems 2003, 

which had a maintenance contract for the site 

and installed and looked after the switch, was 

found guilty of the same charge. 

Motherwell Control Systems went into liquidation 

shortly after the disaster before reappearing 

at a nearby address “under another guise”, the 

court heard. The Health and Safety Executive 

and Environment Agency said in a statement: 

“When companies put workers and members 

of the public at risk and cause environmental 

damage we will prosecute. When the fire tore 

through the Buncefield site, these companies 

had failed to protect workers, members of the 

public and the environment. The scale of the 

explosion and fire at Buncefield was immense 

and it was miraculous that nobody died. Unless 

the high hazard industries truly learn the lessons, 

we may not be that fortunate in future.” 

21 21

XXX NEws 

22 

ALTERNATIVEFUEL NEws 

Honda does not, believe in pure electric cars 

The parent company of the first electric car 

launched on the market in 1997, the Honda 

EV Plus (in production for only two years), is 

now skeptical on the success of this kind of 

car. The head of Honda’s research, Tomohiko 

Kawanabe, said: “we need to see if consumers 

are willing to accept limited autonomy of electric 

cars and the ‘hassle’ of long time reload”, then 

added, “we are continuing research into electric 

cars, but at present I would not advise”. The 

skepticism of Honda is in contrast with predictions 

of another major Japanese manufacturer, 

Nissan, previewing by 2020 a market share 

of 10 percent for electric cars. The problem 

is that cars like the Mitsubishi i-Leaf or Miev 

have limited autonomy, about 150 – 160 km, 

influenced by the use of onboard services, such 

Europe’s first commercial fast-charging Ev station opens 

Europe’s first commercial smart-charging station 

for electric vehicles (EV) has opened for 

business in The Netherlands. Developed by 

smart-charging solutions leader, Epyon Power, 

and operated by Dutch utility company, Essent, 

the charging stations are fully operational and 

accessible at the Tamoil petrol station in Leeuwarden, 

the capital city of Friesland province. 

The motivation for the charging stations is 

obvious: to stimulate Electric Vehicle use, to 

show how quick the smart-charging stations 

can be installed, and to show that they can also 

function safely in the controlled environments 

of petrol stations. The fast-charging station 

delivers 50 kilowatts of power and can fully 

Mascoma lands deal with Chevron 

Mascoma, which wants to develop microbes 

that can convert woody biomass into ethanol, 

has signed a important deal with Chevron 

Technology Ventures. Under the deal, Chevron 

will supply feedstocks to Mascoma, and then 

Mascoma’s microbes will convert the material 

into ethanol and lignin, the tough material 

that protects plants. Chevron will then evaluate 

the result. To survive and thrive, biofuel 

startups will invariably have to partner with 

as air conditioning, or the route: it consumes 

more in the long distances with the accelerator 

fully depressed. Indeed, not all think like 

Nissan: Menahem Anderman, president of a 

consulting firm for the alternative energy segment 

called Advanced Automotive Batteries, 

believes that by 2020 not more than 1 percent 

of cars in the world will mount an electric 

motor. Honda has a vision made reality by the 

electric car prototype FCX Clarity, driven by an 

electric motor, but powered by a hydrogen fuel 

cell which produces the power required by the 

electric motor. Who is right? – In fact no one 

in the sense that there is, today, a “definitive” 

solution. The current battery technology is 

limited and expects a generation jump (which 

will not happen soon) to see “batteries” with 

a significantly increased capacity of storing 

energy. So probably, within the next 10 years 

we will mainly see electric city cars. For longer 

journeys there will be hybrid cars in their various 

technological designs. The electric-powered 

Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen should have a 

more limited market, because of the lack of a 

network of hydrogen filling stations. 

charge the 9-person taxi-vans of Taxi Kijlstra in 

only 30 minutes. The stations are also remotely 

monitored and controlled through Epyon’s 

Power-Routing Network. A single fast charging 

station can operate several compact outlets so 

multiple EV’s can be charged simultaneously 

from a single charging station. Taxi Kijlstra, 

the largest taxi firm in the north of the Netherlands, 

recently transformed two of their taxi 

fleet into electric powered vehicles without any 

limitations on the service side. The taxi-vans 

can drive 100 kilometre or more on a single 

fast charge. Friesland has an ambitious target 

of having 100 000 EV’s on the road within the 

next five years. 

the major fuel companies. Chevron already 

has an R&D alliance with Solazyme, which 

makes algal biodiesel. Shell has deals with 

70 or so different alternative fuel companies, 

according to sources. Mascoma recently underwent 

some management changes. CEO 

Bruce Jamerson became chairman and also 

chairman of Frontier Renewable Resources, 

which is trying to raise money to build a plant 

in Michigan based around Mascoma’s microbes. 

LAtEst ALtErNAtIvE fUEL NEws – www.PEtrOLPLAzA.COM 

Ohio chooses local 

business to expand its 

fuel solutions 

A family business in the US, which turned 

to compressed natural gas to fight rising fuel 

costs for its fleet, has been chosen by the state 

to spread the solution to other parts of the 

Ohio. Kirk Energy Group LLC has received 

more than US $ 2.7 million in federal stimulus 

grants through Clean Fuels Ohio to build four 

compressed natural gas fuelling stations in 

the state. “Our [customer] demographic is 

not Joe and Mary Smith; our demographic 

is the fleets in the market we operate”, said 

Christian Pedersen, co-managing member of 

Kirk Energy, along with his brother-in-law, 

Andrew Rill, who shares the title. The two 

are executives in other family businesses 

in Findlay: Mr. Pedersen, with H&O Services, 

a Findlay waste-hauling and property 

management company, and Mr. Rill, with 

Findlay Machine & Tool Inc. The two firms 

have a diverse combined fleet of about 250 

vehicles – from massive 40-ton trucks down 

to light-duty vans and pickups. “We formed 

Kirk Energy in response to the fuel price spike”, 

Mr. Rill said. We came together collectively 

to brainstorm on an answer because, as a 

family unit, we were spending millions on 

diesel fuel. We settled on compressed natural 

gas because it offered up the most strategic 

advantages as a fuel source for our fleets. The 

state-administered grants – part of an US $ 11 

million federally funded program to promote 

cleaner fuel technologies state-wide – will 

help pay for construction of four compressed 

natural gas fueling stations and a portion of 

the cost to convert fleet vehicles to use the 

fuel. Clean Fuels Ohio expects the investment 

to leverage another US $ 19 million in private 

funds. Compressed natural gas can cost as 

much as US $ 1 per gallon cheaper than the 

equivalent amount of gasoline or diesel fuel, 

Mr. Rill said. When the four stations are 

online, expected by 2015, they will double 

the number of existing compressed natural 

gas filling stations in the state that are open 

to the public.

www.air-serv.eu 

www.alucobond.com 

www.alcoa.com 

www.aspentech.com 

www.atosworldline.com 

www.bennettpump.com 

www.bennett-sauser.ch 

www.beverinnovations.com 

www.brugg.de 

www.ceccato.it 

www.dresserwayne.com 

www.plxpipe.com 

www.eurotank.eu.com 

TM 

www.fafnir.com 

www.franklinfueling.com 

www.gilbarco.eu 

www.hectronic.com 

www.iisltd.com 

www.istobal.com 

www.kaercher.com 

www.kpsystem.com 

www.kubald.com 

www.leightonobrien.com 

www.mepsan.com.tr 

www.mueller-offenburg.de 

www.nupigeco.com 

www.ono-oil.com 


wEBsItEs ANd LOGOs – sUPPOrtING ErPECNEws 

www.opw-fce.com 

www.planova.com 

www.psdcodax.com 

www.ruudlighting.net & www.ruudled.net 

www.scheidt-bachmann.com 

www.secu-tech.at 

sloan led.com 

www.stc-norway.com 

www.tammerneon.com 

www.tanknology.com 

www.tebodin.com 

www.tokheim.com 

www.washtec.de 

If you have not yet sent us your logo and website address, please do so for the next issue by mailing editor@erpecnews.com 

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