european edition - ErpecNews

Irving Oil interested in Icelandic companies
Representatives from the Canadian company
Irving Oil are in Iceland meeting with the
executives of Icelandic oil companies and
familiarizing themselves with their operations.
They might even invest in either N1
or Skeljungur (Shell Iceland). Irving Oil
had plans to import fuel and operate fuel
stations in the country 20 years ago. However,
the three Icelandic oil companies,
ESSO (now N1), Olís and Skeljungur joined
forces in fighting off the competition. The
Competition Authority later determined
that the oil companies violated the laws on
competition with their actions. Currently,
both the owners and the operation of N1
are heavily indebted. A financial reorganization
is underway and claimants may take
the company over this summer. It has also
been discussed that N1's owners will sell
the company.
MOL buys third-largest Slovenian fuel retailer
Slovenian trade and telecoms group Tus Holding
has sold Tus Oil, Slovenia's third-largest fuel
retailer, to Hungarian oil company MOL. Tus
Oil has 19 filling stations while MOL had 12 filling
stations in Slovenia prior to the purchase.
The value of the purchase was not disclosed.
Motoring coalition wants fuel price investigation
A European coalition of motoring groups
has written to the European Union demanding
an investigation into the soaring price
of petrol, claiming that market pricing is
“far from transparent”. With petrol prices
reaching record highs, the Federation Natio-
nale d'Automobile (FIA), which represents
35 million drivers, has demanded an inquiry
into how benchmark prices are set at Europe's
key trading centre, the Rotterdam spot
market. The FIA's letter calls on Joaquin
Almunia, the EU Competition Commissioner,
to look into “transparency in crude oil
and oil product prices” and “investigate the
influence and proper functioning of pricefixing
mechanisms as at the Rotterdam spot
market for finished products”. The British
Petrol Retailers' Association will also refer
its concerns to the Office of Fair Trading,
asking for it to look at the “grave issue” of
transparent pricing and its impact on the
retail market.
Shell seeks buyers for 260 gasoline stations in Canada
Royal Dutch Shell has said that it is looking
for a buyer for its 260 retail gasoline stations
in Canada as part of the oil giant's plan to sell
$ 5 billion of assets this year. Out of 1 600
gas stations Shell has in Canada the company
plans to sell 260 retail stations in Quebec and
the Maritime provinces in Eastern Canada.
The company is looking for a buyer who will
operate the stations under the Shell banner
since it has an established brand name. The
260 stations have convenience food stores, car
washes and other customer-driven services. Shell
said that the sale will exclude five joint venture
sites and 190 reseller outlets in the region.
German cartel office claims slammed by fuel companies
Germany's cartel office wants to counter the
influence over German gasoline sales and prices
of the dominant five companies by limiting
their ability to buy filling stations in future, a
German newspaper reported. The newspaper
cited a cartel office report as saying the five
companies whose influence it has reportedly
criticised – led by the local units of BP, operator
of the Aral outlets and Shell – would
only be able to buy stations in exceptional
circumstances. The cartel office would either
bar further purchases by the companies “or
only approve them under certain terms and
conditions”, the paper quoted the report as
saying. Recent German media reports say
the cartel office believes the major retailers
move in tandem so that price moves appear
to be concerted, though without breaking
any law however no evidence of price fixing
has been found.
LatESt NEwS, EVENtS, JObS ONLINE – www.PEtrOLPLaza.COM
review
NEwS – EUrOPE
It was the most wonderful setting, on
the outskirts of Europe's favourite city,
Barcelona, that erpec took place once
again, with over 200 delegates attending
from Europe's retail petroleum sector.
Coming from 26 countries, representing
oil companies, retailers, equipment suppliers,
distributors and PMC's, the mix
of companies taking part was much of
what made this event the most special so
far. Joining the programme this year were
many first time delegates from Eastern
Europe, including representatives from oil
companies SOCAR, Parallel and TNK-BP.
Two days of one to one meetings, around
1 200 in total, followed a lively conference
programme on the first day, featuring
speakers from Circle, Petrogas, Topaz,
Eurotank, Wincor Nixdorf and sponsor
for the session OPW. The papers are all
available on request. First time delegate
Rasim Gurbanov from SOCAR said: ‘My
expectations have been more than exceeded,
I have gained a lot of new knowledge and
will keep some unforgettable impressions.’
Pavel Batyushin from Logintech, who
was helping us a lot before the event to
build some solid bridges into the Eastern
European market commented: ‘Many
thanks for the invitation to erpec 11. It
was a really new experience in my business
practice and the participants from TNK-BP
and PARALLEL can confirm that as well.
I am sure erpec 13 will attract more people
from CIS / Baltic market which I consider
one of the most prospective ones in our
industry. I will be pleased to be invited.’
The farewell dinner on the last evening
featured a live Queen tribute band,
which played to an audience which was
completely won over by the music and
the performance, sending everyone
home with ‘We are the Champions’ still
ringing in their ears. A perfect end, to a
perfect event!
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