CALTEX to Buy MOBIL

[csv8]

It said first-half earnings would enable it to fund from internal cashflow the growth opportunity it sees from its planned buy of Exxon Mobil's Australian retail network.

Exxon is pulling out of the local retail market but keeping its local oil and gas production assets.

Caltex plans to pay about $300 million to buy 302 Mobil service station sites, including 46 in Queensland, and has an agreement subject to a ruling from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The ACCC will look at Caltex's potential market share given its own national network of about 2000 service stations and resellers, including its co-branding arrangement with Woolworths.

The Courier Mail ,Business section 29/08/2009.

my comment : I hope the ACCC stop this ,as it will lead to market dominance and higher fuel prices. CALTEX won't be doing this to make petrol cheaper for motorists.

[burnz]

and i prefer mobil fuel, not some watered down rubbish.

[Road_Warrior]

Christ. Caltex are like some kind of ravenous, rampant animal - they did this with Ampol in 1995 as well under the guise of a 'merger' but nearly 15 years down the track, all there is is Caltex with a huge market share, no more Ampol servos and one less competitor in the marketplace! Ok part of the terms set out by the ACCC at the time was that Caltex/Ampol had to make their terminals available to an independent retailer but in a lot of places the independents got priced out of the market because they don't have the financial depth that a nationwide retailer does.

I can see motorists getting poke in the eye with a burning stick over petrol prices (much moreso than now) if the ACCC let this take over occur.

[burnz]

maybe the government should reintroduce solo petrol stations.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by burnz

maybe the government should reintroduce solo petrol stations.

Originally Posted by Me

part of the terms set out by the ACCC at the time was that Caltex/Ampol had to make their terminals available to an independent retailer

The directors of Solo sold out to Caltex in the 1980's (more like forced out of the market) and part of the sale agreement was that they (those two guys) were forbidden to operate in the retail petroleum business, forbidden to own or manage sites and were generally not allowed to have anything to do with a petrol station other than filling their own cars up.

When the Caltex/Ampol 'merger' was proclaimed, another of the conditions set forth by the ACCC was that the prior retail activity prohibition agreement that the Solo directors had with Caltex was annulled. So those guys immediately jumped up and formed Liberty Petroleum, and had access to Caltex's terminals. I've been out of the industry for nearly 10 years now so I don't know what happened to them, but I don't see any more Liberty retail sites anywhere nowadays...make of that what you will...

[FGX-351]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

but I don't see any more Liberty retail sites anywhere nowadays...make of that what you will...

There are still a couple here in Brisbane as far as I know anyway.

[BigAL_250]

I think I was reading on a different news report recently, that this isn't really one company gaining huge market share, the Co-branded Caltex-Woolworths outlets are owned by Woolworths and they control the prices (Caltex just distribute to them), where these would be owned wholly by Caltex.

Still not a good idea, but perhaps not as bad as indicated.
Wouldn't be the first time a news item has been wrong though.

[Yaw]

I've been telling people for years that Mobil was pulling out of Australia.

2005 therad where I mentioned this:

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...bil#post110365

Oh yeah I think Solo was purchased by Ampol, not Caltex.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Yaw

Oh yeah I think Solo was purchased by Ampol, not Caltex.

Actually I think you may be right. Seems to ring a bell with me.

Not sure whether Solo was government owned, it was bankrolled by the ACTU and supported by the government of the day to get it up and running.

[burnz]

wasnt solo goernment owned?? to keep retailers in line.
or have i got the wrong brand.

[Yaw]

In 1988, Pioneer International Limited (which had since 1980 held a 65% controlling stake) acquired full ownership of Ampol.[3] The following year, Pioneer purchased Solo Oil Limited, the largest independent retailer and distributor in Australia at that time.

In May 1995, Caltex and Ampol merged petroleum refining and marketing assets to form Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd which, in 1997, became Caltex Australia Ltd.The Ampol brand remains in use to this day, primarily in country areas where customer loyalty and strong brand-recognition are factors.[4]


[edit] References

From Wikipedia

EDIT: Just found this interesting site:
http://home.austarnet.com.au/jamieson/petrol.html

[deesun]

You still see the odd Liberty around but day by day they are closing down and/or being taken over by the big blokes. And irrespective of what you may think if you put a huge big flashy servo next door to a little independent and have higher prices at the flashy one people will still go to the flashy one sending the little fella to the wall.

[Yaw]

Liberty were a realitivley small player but in order for ACCC to allow the caltex ampol meger through, Caltex had to get rid of a certain number of sites,( I was at this stage working at the Caltex at Deagon ) Caltex leased thier under perofoming sites to Liberty. (Caltex retained ownership of the sites) Then when Woolworths came into the market Liberty sold a lot of thier sites to Woolworths. and as such are supplied by Caltex.
Pretty clever from a buissness perspective on Caltex's part.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Yaw

Liberty were a realitivley small player but in order for ACCC to allow the caltex ampol meger through, Caltex had to get rid of a certain number of sites,( I was at this stage working at the Caltex at Deagon ) Caltex leased thier under perofoming sites to Liberty.

That's right they did too, I remember that now. Liberty were volume junkies anyway.

[Swordsman88]

As noted above by Yaw, exxon has been looking for a way to get out of the retail business for ages. In fact they were so desperate to get out of petroleum generally (as opposed to oil/gas extraction etc.) they shut down the adelaide refinery (it would have needed an upgrade from a technical perspective though) just as the price of fuel sky rocketed.

Profit wise the retail arm of esso aus. has been losing money for years... I'm not sure if this deal also means mobil melbourne refinery will become caltex too??? It might do as caltex doesn't have its own refinery in Vic.

In my area and in fact in brisbane generally mobil doesn't seem that much of a presence. Certainly not the cheapest niether. Given they just use caltex/bp fuel anyway in most parts of australia i don't think it will make much difference. People need to realise that fuel is bulk traded all over the place, you might think BP is better than mobil etc. but there is no gurantee you are even using that brand of fuel. Certainly for garden variety 91 + 95 ron fuels anyway.

[last fairlane]

Dont forget Caltex bought out Golden Fleece petroleum
and that was when Bob Hawke was the PM
and he was the one that organized ACTU SOLO
also what ever happened to Kangaroo petrol back in the seventies
I can go back further to Neptune in the sixties that was bought out by Shell
what ever happened to the Neptune racing team?
Norm Beechey Jim Mckeon and Peter Manton
thanks for the memories John

[Ibrox90]

same old saying "if you cant beat them, buy them"

[ILLaViTaR]

HAHAHA It just keeps getting better!!!

Possibly one of the lowest forms of life, unfairly and pointlessly capitalising at the expense of others.

Give me a gun and if it wasn't for the law I'd blow Mr CEO's head clean off.

[Fordman]

wow theyd monoplise the industry here.

[csv8]

There are AMPOL servos in Beenleigh, Chermside, Cleveland, Hendra, Hillcrest, Ipswich and Rocklea.

[BFZ Wagon]

That takeover is not a good idea. There's already less competition around. Markets are getting smaller everywhere. Soon we'll be left with 2 fuel companies in Australia and tiny independents (if they still exist!) Then there will be the duopoly.
I remember years ago when we had a big choice for fuel. We even had a big choice for supermarkets but that's all been eroded down to the big 2 and smaller ones hanging on. (supermarkets that is)

WA & NZ have GULL. I've often wondered why they haven't established a presence in the eastern states? Is there anyone on here from WA that knows much about them?

There's already way too many Caltex servos around since they swallowed up Ampol.
I'm still angry at them for converting all the Ampol's into Caltex's and replacing an Aussie icon (that had a nice blue logo) with that hideous yank star thing.

But money talks and the ACCC is a waste of time and doesn't have any power so it will just go ahead whether the public like it or not.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by BFZ Wagon

There's already way too many Caltex servos around since they swallowed up Ampol.
I'm still angry at them for converting all the Ampol's into Caltex's and replacing an Aussie icon (that had a nice blue logo) with that hideous yank star thing.

After the CAltex Ampol merger, The then CEO Dr Ian Blackburn (who was formely CEO of Ampol prior to the merger and is now one of the suncorp excecs) converted every site on the Gold Coast to Ampol Branding. Even on the pacific Hwy, there were billboards stating you could not go 5 minutes without seeing an Ampol down the coast.
A short time after this when the Chevron guys (chervon/texaco Caltex is a joint venture from them) came over to see how the merger was going. Dr Ian Blackburn was given a very sharp rap over the knuckles and told to change them all to Caltex, which alomost happened overnight.

[BFZ Wagon]

Originally Posted by Yaw

After the CAltex Ampol merger, The then CEO Dr Ian Blackburn (who was formely CEO of Ampol prior to the merger and is now one of the suncorp excecs) converted every site on the Gold Coast to Ampol Branding. Even on the pacific Hwy, there were billboards stating you could not go 5 minutes without seeing an Ampol down the coast.
A short time after this when the Chevron guys (chervon/texaco Caltex is a joint venture from them) came over to see how the merger was going. Dr Ian Blackburn was given a very sharp rap over the knuckles and told to change them all to Caltex, which alomost happened overnight.

I remember that time. It was great seeing all the sites changing to Ampol. I remember every single site that was always an Ampol and the ones that were Ampol's after the merger.
I thought it was wrong that they changed to the stupid Caltex star logo. I didn't realise that that was the reason for the massive (almost overnight) change to Caltex. So there you go. Stupid companies.

On the Gold Coast we used to have a company called IFS (Independent Fuel Supplies) They were part of the Qld Fuel Group (CQP that dave351cid mentioned were also part of Qld Fuel Group)
Anyway, apparently all the IFS sites on the Gold Coast are now controlled by Caltex and are eventually supposed to be changing over to Caltex sites. A few have been done already including one at Nerang. IFS used to offer a VIP card holder discount which (if you had the VIP card) got you 2cents or whatever a Litre off your fuel. It all stopped when Caltex took over and their prices are usually just as expensive as everyone else these days.
There doesn't seem to be such a thing as 'Independent' anymore.. Well not in this country anyway.

[turbo_man]

Originally Posted by BFZ Wagon

WA & NZ have GULL. I've often wondered why they haven't established a presence in the eastern states? Is there anyone on here from WA that knows much about them?

there used to be a gull in queenbeyan a few years ago just as you would turn off towards cooma. it had the cheapest fuel on the sydney to the snowy mountains route but last time i was there it's become a caltex and prices have jumped.

[Tobey]

Originally Posted by turbo_man

there used to be a gull in queenbeyan a few years ago just as you would turn off towards cooma. it had the cheapest fuel on the sydney to the snowy mountains route but last time i was there it's become a caltex and prices have jumped.

There were a couple in ACT too...

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by BFZ Wagon

WA & NZ have GULL. I've often wondered why they haven't established a presence in the eastern states? Is there anyone on here from WA that knows much about them?

I have had the displeasure of working for them, yes.

Their decision not to expand into the eastern seaboard capital cities (apart from ACT) was purely an economic/profit based decision.

[dave351cid]

until recently there was an independant chain of fuel outlets called "CQP - central queensland petroleum" who had quite a few servos in this area, they all seem to have caltex signs out the front now and the prices have gone up at both the old caltex servos and the CQP / caltex servos.

if mobil turns caltex then that will almost give them a total monopoly in this area apart from a couple of privateers.

[last fairlane]

Hi if you mean the Ampol Hillcrest in Anzac ave just near the Greenbank RSL well its gone totally
shut down and demollished

[mik]

i had a mental pic of an old bowser in my head but could`nt remember the servo (the winged horse), so i googled and stumbled across this for the history buffs.


AUSTRALIAN OIL HISTORY TIMELINE
1854 : AUSTRALIAN KEROSINE AND OIL COMPANY began retorting shale at HARTLEY VALE , NEW SOUTH WALES , producing kerosine and making candles.

19 May 1867 : HAROLD CROFTON SLEIGH (pronounced SLEE), merchant and ship-owner was born in ENGLAND.

November 1895 : HAROLD C. SLEIGH and JOHN McILWRAITH formed a partnership , opening an office in FLINDERS STREET , MELBOURNE.

1900 : R.W. CAMERON AND CO. began operating as AUSTRALIAN agent for THE TEXAS COMPANY.

1901 : COLONIAL OIL COMPANY - an offshoot of STANDARD OIL - set up business as the first motor spirit (petrol)(gasoline) importing firm in AUSTRALIA.

1902 : JOHN FELL AND COMPANY was established in SYDNEY and began the production of lubricants made from N.S.W. shale oil.

1905 : The SHELL TRANSPORT AND TRADING COMPANY and the ROYAL DUTCH PETROLEUM COMPANY established BRITISH IMPERIAL OIL COMPANY LIMITED in AUSTRALIA as a joint venture.

1908 : The VACUUM OIL COMPANY took over the AUSTRALIAN operations of the COLONIAL OIL COMPANY.

1909 : NEPTUNE OIL COMPANY was set up to handle the oil business developed by the KITCHEN family.

1913 : H.C. SLEIGH took over the first consignment of CALIFORNIAN motor spirit imported into AUSTRALIA and marketed it as GOLDEN FLEECE.

1913 : C.C.WAKEFIELD & CO. LTD. branded CASTROL lubricants first marketed in AUSTRALIA.

1914 : The KITCHEN interests , including the NEPTUNE OIL COMPANY , were sold to the LEVER GROUP.

1918 : THE TEXAS COMPANY AUSTRALASIA LIMITED was incorporated in NEW SOUTH WALES.

1920 : C.O.R. ( COMMONWEALTH OIL REFINERIES ) was formed by the AUSTRALIAN federal government and the ANGLO - PERSIAN OIL COMPANY as equal patrners.

1924 : ATLANTIC REFINING COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA appointed HARRISONS RAMSAY PTY.LTD. as AUSTRALIAN agent to market its ATLANTIC brand products.

1924 : C.O.R.'s refinery at LAVERTON , VICTORIA came on stream.

1924 : NEPTUNE OIL instaled the first company-owned pump at a multi-brand service station in HUNTER STREET , SYDNEY.

1925 : UNION OIL OF CALIFORNIA appointed F.W.WILLIAMS AND COMPANY PTY.LTD. as AUSTRALIAN agent to market UNION motor spirit using the VENUS brand.

1926 : The LEVER GROUP sold the NEPTUNE OIL COMPANY to the ROYAL DUTCH / SHELL GROUP.

By the end of 1927 : to bring the AUSTRALIAN company name into line with its "SHELL" brand name , the BRITISH IMPERIAL OIL COMPANY LTD. became THE SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LTD.(INC.IN GREAT BRITAIN).

1928 : The VACUUM OIL COMPANY was the first oil company in AUSTRALIA to appoint an aviation manager.

1932 : PACIFIC OIL COMPANY LTD. was formed in MELBOURNE.

24 April 1933 : HAROLD CROFTON SLEIGH died and was buried in BOX HILL (MELBOURNE) cemetery. His son HAMILTON MORTON HOWARD SLEIGH took control of the H C SLEIGH partnership.

1933 : ALBA PETROLEUM COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA PTY.LTD. was established by P.J. ADAMS and A.G.WALES.

1933 : STANDARD OIL OF NEW JERSEY bought the ATLANTIC UNION company and continued to use the ATLANTIC brand name until the early 1960 's.

1935 : PACIFIC OIL COMPANY LTD. was merged into the ALBA PETROLEUM COMPANY.

23 March 1936 : AUSTRALIAN MOTORISTS PETROL CO.LTD. was incorporated in NEW SOUTH WALES by WILLIAM.G. WALKLEY

1936 : The TEXAS COMPANY (AUSTRALASIA) LIMITED became part of the CALTEX GROUP.

1939 : The VACUUM OIL COMPANY introduced the FLYING RED HORSE (PEGASUS) to AUSTRALIA.

February 1940 : The AUSTRALIAN federal government introduced petrol rationing as an emergency wartime measure.

1941 : The name CALTEX was first used in AUSTRALIA.

1942 : POOL PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. was formed by importing companies to handle wartime distribution of petroleum products within AUSTRALIA.

1945 : ALBA PETROLEUM COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA was incorporated into AUSTRALIAN MOTORISTS PETROL COMPANY.

1947 : H.C.SLEIGH became a public company - H.C. SLEIGH LIMITED.

1949 : Petrol rationing was declared invalid by the AUSTRALIAN High Court.

1949 : AUSTRALIAN MOTORISTS PETROL COMPANY name was changed to AMPOL PETROLEUM LIMITED.

1950 : Petrol rationing was lifted by the the newly elected AUSTRALIAN federal government.

1952 : The ANGLO - IRANIAN OIL COMPANY (formerly the ANGLO - PERSIAN OIL COMPANY) bought out the AUSTRALIAN government's half share of C.O.R. ( COMMONWEALTH OIL REFINERIES ).

1954 : SANTOS incorporated in SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

1957 : COMMONWEALTH OIL REFINERIES LIMITED name changed to BP AUSTRALIA LIMITED.

1959 : KANGAROO PETROLEUM COMPANY PTY.LTD. was formed and began marketing petrol in VICTORIA.

Early 1960 's : STANDARD OIL OF INDIANA commenced marketing from AMOCO sevice stations in the eastern mainland states and SOUTH AUSTR

Early 1960 's : STANDARD OIL OF NEW JERSEY replaced the ATLANTIC sign with the ESSO oval in their AUSTRALIAN service stations.

By April 1961 : PHILLIPS PETROLEUM commenced operations in northern NEW SOUTH WALES and QUEEENSLAND using the PHILLIPS 66 brand name.

1962 : KANGAROO PETROLEUM was aquired by H.C. SLEIGH LIMITED.

1965 : AMOCO opened a refinery at BULWER ISLAND , BRISBANE.

1966 : XL PETROLEUM PTY. LTD. began marketing in GEELONG , VICTORIA.

By February 1967 : PHILLIPS PETROLEUM withdrew from marketing in AUSTRALIA. Petrol marketing was taken over by H.C.SLEIGH - the marketer of GOLDEN FLEECE petrol.

In mid 1969 : INDEPENDENT OIL CO. PTY. LTD. (IOC) began operations in VICTORIA

1974 : IOC was wound up.

1976 : GULL PETROLEUM founded in WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

1981 : CALTEX bought the GOLDEN FLEECE petrol marketing network from H.C.SLEIGH.

1982 : AMPOL PETROLEUM LIMITED bought the marketing and refining assets of TOTAL AUSTRALIA LIMITED.

1982 : MATILDA FUEL SUPPLIES established by PETER O'KEEFFE in QUEENSLAND.

1984 : BP bought the downstream assets of AMOCO in AUSTRALIA - including the BULWER ISLAND oil refinery.

1990 : AMPOL LIMITED acquired SOLO OIL LIMITED , the largest independent retailer and distributor in AUSTRALIA.

1990 : MOBIL aquired the downstream assets of ESSO in AUSTRALIA.

May 1995 : CALTEX AUSTRALIA LIMITED and AMPOL LIMITED merged their petroleum refining and marketing assets.

May 1995 : LIBERTY OIL established. Fully owned by partners , DAVID GOLDBERGER and DAVID WIELAND.

In late 1999 : SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FARMERS FUEL SAFF agreed to supply fuel to the members of the S A FARMERS FEDERATION . At May 2001 SAFF had 25 stations.