Erpec News

an international retail petroleum news digest 

erpecnews 

european edition 

www.erpecnews.com 

Initial public offering of Statoil’s energy and 

retail business on Oslo Stock Exchange 

Statoil’s Board of Directors has decided to start 

a process to list its energy and retail business 

on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Statoil’s energy 

and retail business includes service stations in 

eight countries. Further to the announcement 

Shell to exit 35 percent petrol stations worldwide 

Royal Dutch Shell has announced sweeping 

changes by outlining plans to raise performance 

and reduce costs in a bid to save US $ 1 billion 

and bring itself to a surplus cash flow 

position by 2012. The company said that it 

would increase its oil production by 11 percent 

from 2009 levels over the next two years, exit 

35 percent of its petrol pumps worldwide, 

reduce refining capacity by 15 percent, cut 

around 2 000 jobs by end of 2011, that would 

save US $ 1 billion this year. It also plans to sell 

non-core assets worth US $ 1 – 3 billion a year. 

Peter Voser, CEO of the Netherlands-based 

Oil Major said, “The company had become too 

Behind every successful forecourt 

Our innovative product range includes a complete package of powerful and 

efficient tools to run and operate a successful forecourt. 

made on the 3rd of February 2010, Statoil’s 

Board of Directors has approved the proposal 

to create a stand-alone Energy & Retail (E&R) 

business through an initial public offering 

(IPO) on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The IPO 

will take place at the earliest in the fourth 

quarter of 2010 or at a time when the capital 

market is deemed favourable for such an offering. 

Statoil intends to remain a majority 

shareholder of E&R at the time of the initial 

public offering and listing. The size and time 

horizon of Statoil’s future ownership in E&R 

will be tailored to support and develop company 

value both for E&R and for the Statoil Group. 

complicated and slower to respond than we’d 

like. So we are sharpening up.” With a focus 

on operating performance, asset performance 

and operating costs, Shell will undertake to 

sell assets worth US $ 1 – 3 billion a year as it 

seeks to exit from non-core positions across 

the company. Voser feels that the company’s 

petrol retailing and marketing operation, 

which has a presence in more than 100 countries, 

are too scattered and not focused enough 

on profitability and growth and hence plans 

to exit from 35 percent of its petrol stations 

worldwide and remain only in 30 of the 90 

countries in which it operates. 

powerful business 

tools. 

Issue No 19 | April 2010 

Carrefour France to 

supply food to TOTAL 

Carrefour and TOTal are reportedly in 

talks regarding an agreement for Carrefour 

to supply food in some TOTal petrol stations 

“The deal could be concluded in the 

coming weeks”, said a source close to the 

matter, while stating that “the contract is 

not finalised yet.” This agreement would 

cover some 2 000 petrol stations of the 

4 500 that TOTal runs. The petrol stations 

would retain their current name as the 

agreement is only for the supply and not 

for the management of the petrol stations. 

Such a partnership would not be totally 

new for Carrefour, the latter having already 

established its 8 à Huit neighbourhood banner 

in BP’s network of stations. With the 

contract, Carrefour could sell considerable 

volumes of non-alcoholic drinks, snacks and 

confectionery, giving its buying office a better 

position to negotiate with its suppliers. 

ENI Galp stake attracts 

Sonangol interest 

angola’s national oil company Sonangol 

wants to buy Eni’s 33.34 percent in Galp 

and might raise its stake up to 50 percent. 

Sonangol already has a 15 percent indirect 

stake in Galp via a 33.34 percent stake 

amorim Energia owns in Galp. Sonangol 

holds 45 percent in amorim Energia. 

analyse and control 

your business. 

a Gilbarco Veeder-Root, Crompton Close, Basildon, Essex, SS14 3BA, UK • p +44 (0)1268 533090 • e gilbas.sales@gilbarco.com • w www.gilbarco.eu 

erpecnews is published by McLean events in conjunction with PetrolPlaza – www.erpecnews.com

CrEdITS 

2 

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McLean Events 

German approval for KPS conductive pipes 

as mentioned in last month’s featured 

article on KPS, the company has now officially 

announced the approval it received 

from the German authorities to install its 

polyethylene piping systems. Germany has 

the most restrictive rules in Europe regarding 

approval for petrol pipes and a special 

rule on permeation which is different to 

the European standard. Only pipes with 

zero permeation are allowed to be used. In 

practice, this has meant that only steel pipes 

have been approved until now, but now the 

break-through has come for plastic pipes. 

after several extensive tests of Swedish supplier 

KPS’s conductive pipes, the company’s 

pipes have been approved for the German 

market. an important factor in the approval 

process have been the involvement of laWa 

(Bund / länder- arbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser), 

U-Cont Oy strike a major contract with Uno-X 

Design and installation specialist U-Cont 

closed a deal to supply new self service 

filling station equipment to Norwegian 

petroleum retailer Uno-X. 

By the agreement U-Cont will deliver all 

the chain’s Uno-X ‘light type’ filling station 

prefab elements including structural units, 

tanks, piping, electricity and the design of 

all. The deal is the biggest single contract 

in the company’s 44 year history and one 

of the biggest filling station deliveries ever 

made in Northern Europe. The total number 

of filling stations will reach one hundred, 

depending on local approvals. U-Cont ltd 

has delivered different types of systems that 

are put together in factory for not only filling 

stations but also for waste to bio-ethanol 

production plants, asphalt factory units, 

power plants and other different needs of the 

industry. Jari Sistonen, Managing Director 

of U-Cont comments, “We have developed 

our operations systematically towards new 

Topaz scores best workplace 

Topaz, Irelands largest fuels and convenience 

retailer, has been recognized as one 

of the Best Workplaces in the country for 

the third year in a row. 

This year Topaz secured its highest ever 

position, making the top ten in a list of the 

best large workplaces in Ireland. Topaz is 

the only Irish owned company in the top 10, 

which includes companies like Microsoft, 

Pepsico Ireland and Diagio. Once again the 

fully Irish owned and managed company 

is the only fuels and convenience retailer 

to be recognized as one of the best places 

LATEST NEwS, EvENTS, jObS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

a federal body working with protection of 

ground water, and which, after consideration 

of the tests and results has given their 

support for an approval. 

“The test institute has announced that the 

tests of our pipes gave a permeation result so 

low that it is to be considered equal to zero”, 

says Mr lars Selling, CEO of KPS. “We are 

very proud that our pipes are the first of their 

kind to pass the tough German demands 

on safety and environmental protection. It 

is the result of research, development and 

advanced manufacturing technology. We 

now look forward to be able to offer the 

German market a competitive alternative 

which is corrosion-free, conductive and very 

quick and easy to install. Today, Germany 

has the most petrol stations in Europe and is 

thereby the largest market for petrol pipes.” 

services that also include the planning and 

development of our customer’s business. 

This contract is a great example of the significance 

of wide service in making a deal 

in today’s difficult competitive situation. 

Our Norwegian customer bases trust on us 

after ten years of acquaintanceship. Uno-X 

directors understood the great potential for 

cost reduction and quality improvement that 

can be achieved by relying on a genuine 

systematically designed, industrial model 

of prefabricated operations, instead of the 

traditional model of construction. The deal 

gives us a good take-off board, away from the 

recession. The manufacturing of the filling 

stations will employ over nearly one third 

of our factory’s capacity, so there will be 

enough capacity left for other needs when 

the amount of investment will rise again. 

The right volume will also give volume 

effectiveness advantage for our customers 

who’s needs aren’t this big.” 

to work. The Best Companies study sets 

out to recognize the finest employers and 

therefore the most satisfied workforces 

in Ireland. 

Frank Gleeson, Retail Director at Topaz 

said; “We are delighted to be recognized 

as one of the Best Workplaces in Ireland 

for the third year in a row. This is a great 

achievement for a young Irish company like 

Topaz. The passion, drive and commitment 

shown by all our 1 420 staff is the key to 

our success, making Topaz the vibrant can 

do organization it is.”

Fuel companies deny holiday price-gouging 

The German head of petrol providers BP 

and aral vehemently rejected accusations 

that the companies were setting higher 

prices ahead of the Easter holiday. On 

Monday, prior to the Easter holiday, German 

automobile club aDaC had said that 

aral and its parent company BP were set 

TOTAL may close 10 percent of petrol stations in France 

TOTal S.a. estimated that about 10 percent 

of all petrol stations running under the 

TOTal brand in France could close within 

the next two to three years. Many independent 

retailers will be affected due to new legis - 

lation and regulations that require investment 

and increased costs. TOTal said it needed 

to cut costs to be able to afford a series of 

NIS fuel at retail sites in Serbia is produced 

according to European quality standards 

according to NIS, the goal of the company 

is to become an acknowledged leader in the 

Balkan region, with a view to the dynamics 

of stable growth and increased efficiency. 

Special attention is being paid to production 

of naphtha derivatives in line with ecological 

standards, modernization of refineries 

and the development of retail activities of 

NIS. Development of the retail side of the 

business is one of the top priorities of the 

company and the strategy in the production 

of fuel according to European quality 

standards. Since the middle of 2009 

dresser wayne achieves OHSAS 18001 

Certifications in Czech republic and Slovakia 

Dresser Wayne has achieved Occupational 

Health and Safety advisory Services OHSaS 

18001 certification at its locations in the Czech 

Republic and Slovakia. The 18001 standard 

has provided a framework for establishing a 

management system to track and continually 

improve worker health and safety. The facilities 

in Central and Eastern Europe join locations 

in Western Europe and the United States that 

have previously been certified according to 

to take advantage of customers during the 

high-traffic long weekend. But the head of 

aral, Uwe Franke, blamed German taxes for 

high petrol prices. “Without taxes a litre of 

petrol or diesel costs between 0.53 euros 

and 0.61 euros – depending on what kind”, 

Franke said. “With that we are in the lower 

third for the EU countries.” Franke went on 

to say that a litre of gasoline costs less than a 

litre of any beverage sold at fuelling stations. 

“This accusation is purely false and won’t 

be any more correct through continued 

repetition”, he said, adding that international 

markets don’t turn to accommodate 

German holiday weekends. 

renovation work required by the government 

under new environmental protection rules. 

a law limiting the sale of alcohol in service 

stations and the introduction of a carbon 

tax this year have also been blamed for the 

cutbacks. TOTal said it will focus on high 

traffic areas such as motorways, industrial 

and commercial zones. 

and for the first time in the territory of 

Serbia, NIS began the production of high 

quality fuel Euro diesel 5 and says the quality 

of the Euro diesel manufactured by NIS 

refineries is guaranteed by car manufacturers 

with world reputations. The car and truck 

makers ‘Mercedes Benz’ and ‘Volvo’ have 

signed with NIS protocols on cooperation. 

These companies give warranty for their cars 

if Euro diesel is pumped at the NIS petrol 

stations. These companies also carry out 

their independent analysis of Euro diesel 

produced at the NIS refineries. 

OHSaS 18001 and the Safety Health and 

Environment Checklist for Contractors, or 

SCC. “The OHSaS 18001 certification and 

our safety management systems are key in 

our local and global environmental, health 

and safety practices”, said Neil H. Thomas, 

Global President, Dresser Wayne. “They 

help us in establishing sustainability best 

practices as our capabilities in Central and 

Eastern Europe grow.” 


NEwS – EUrOPE 

Shell bets on ambitious 

growth in Ukraine 

Shell in the Ukraine has announced that 

it grew its network of petrol stations from 

130 to 150 in 2009, following its market 

entry in partnership with the local alliance 

group in 2007. 

Following the initial conversion of existing 

alliance sites, including a strong presence 

of forecourt stores, Shell is now aiming to 

grow its network to 350 outlets by 2014. In 

terms of petroleum products, Shell hopes 

to increase its national market share from 

6 percent to 14 percent during the period. 

Alexela sells its 

Lithuanian business 

to Neste Oil 

Neste Oil is to strengthen its position on 

the oil retail market in lithuania by acquiring 

22 unmanned fuel stations. Neste Oil 

currently has an 11 percent share of the 

local market, which will rise to nearly 15 

percent following the acquisition. The deal 

will complement the company’s existing 

network of 37 stations in lithuania and 

confirm Neste Oil’s position as the country’s 

number-three oil retailer. The transaction 

covers all of Estonian-based alexela Oil 

aS’ station business in lithuania, and will 

require the approval of the lithuanian 

competition authorities. 

Azerbaijan government 

introduces 

Euro-2 standards 

From 1 July 2010, ecological standard 

Euro-2 (emission of hazardous substances) 

will be introduced to cars in azerbaijan. 

Ministry of Industry and Energy, State 

Committee on Standardization, Metrology 

and Patents and SOCaR (State Oil 

Company of azerbaijan) are in charge of 

strengthening control over the quality of 

motor fuel sold at petrol stations and will 

take measures with regards to persons 

violating the requirements. SOCaR has 

also announced recently that it plans to put 

into operation the first filling stations in 

azerbaijan under its own brand. The actual 

network of azerbaijan’s filling stations is 

26 outlets. So far, SOCaR constructed 

and put into operation over 30 filling stations 

in Georgia. The company will also 

expand its activities in the retail market 

of oil products in Ukraine. SOCaR is currently 

undertaking a rebranding of about 

20 filling stations in this country. 

3


Czech republic annually 

loses billions 

in unpaid fuel tax 

The Czech state annually loses up to 8 

billion crowns in unpaid duty on oil and 

petrol, according to a report that Benzina, 

the biggest petrol station chain in the 

country, worked out for the state “We 

found out that due to the illegal fuel imports 

from linz, austria, which the police 

revealed last year, the Czech state lost 

up to 3.5 billion crowns in seven months, 

Benzina director general Martin Durcak 

said. Untaxed petrol is also imported from 

Germany and Poland. Benzina’s profits 

are affected by the illegal imports of fuel, 

a newspaper notes. Some 300 million 

litres of untaxed fuel was on the Czech 

market, which was about 4 percent of the 

consumption. 

TCI Environment has 

moved its offices 

From april 1st you will now find TCI 

Environment International at the following 

address; Rijksweg 10 C, 1e verdieping / 1er 

étage, 2880 Bornem, Belgium. The telephone 

numbers remain the same. 

Electric fueling point 

at Munich airport 

One erpecnews reader, one a journey 

through Munich airport in Germany, recently 

saw a glimpse of the future and 

something many of us have yet to see, 

whilst walking across the shopping piazza 

just outside the main airport lobby. a mini 

car being filled up with electricity, only for 

promotional purposes I might add, which 

just seemed to me as being such a simple 

thing to do. No spilt fuel, no vapour or 

potential fire hazards. How long will it 

be before we are all driving onto petrol 

forecourt, or wherever we may actually find 

such a facility and asking someone for 8 000 

volts please? a shocking thought maybe 

and certainly a reality check to my system! 

Gazprom has no plans for TOTAL’s refinery in UK 

OaO Gazprom Neft, the oil unit of Russia’s 

natural-gas exporter, doesn’t plan to buy TOTal 

Sa’s U.K. refinery and filling stations. Gazprom 

Neft spokeswoman Ekaterina Stenyakina 

informed by telephone from Moscow after 

london’s Sunday Times reported Gazprom 

may bid. Total has hired JPMorgan Chase 

& Co. to advise on the sale of the assets, 

worth at least £1 billion (US $ 1.59 billion). 

TOTal-owned assets for sale include the 

221 000 barrel-a-day lindsey refinery in eastern 

England and a 247-kilometre (150-mile) 

pipeline linking the plant to the Buncefield 

depot near london. The fuel storage site supplies 

jet fuel to Heathrow airport. Total also 

has 800 filling stations in the country. The 

Autogrill teams up with ESSO in Italy 

Italian airport and motorway restaurant operator autogrill has announced it has reached an 

agreement with Esso Italiana, part of the ExxonMobil Corp. Through the partnership, autogrill’s 

subsidiary Nuova Sidap will manage a network of 80 service station stores. The service 

stations will remain the property of ESSO and will use the ESSO brand for the oil products 

offered and autogrill brand for grocery items 

Gilbarco veeder-root acquires Fafnir GmbH 

Gilbarco Veeder-Root has acquired Fafnir 

GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany. Fafnir 

specializes in the development and production 

of sensors and systems for monitoring and 

measuring liquid levels and vapor flow. The 

company offers a broad range of tank gauging 

and vapor monitoring technology for fueling 

operators, as well as sensing products for the 

process industry. Fafnir’s commitment to the 

industry over the last forty years has resulted 

in a large installed base of sites that spans 

multi-national, regional, and independent oil 

companies in Europe, the Middle East and 

africa, asia, and beyond. Fafnir enjoys strong 

brand recognition and an excellent reputation 

for customer focus, quality, and innovation. 

“Fafnir’s leading technology and strong brand 

along with its innovative team of employees in 

budgens & Londis recruit forecourt retailers in the UK 

Musgrave Retail Partners are planning to sign 

up a significant number of new forecourt retailers 

to its Budgens and londis brands. The 

company recruited 50 forecourt operators in 

2009, with a similar number predicted for 2010. 

“Budgens and londis are traditionally perceived 

as convenience, supermarket and wholesale 

retailers”, said Musgrave Retail Partners GB 

Managing Director Phil Smith. “Now there is 

a conscious shift to see Budgens and londis as 

forecourt retailers too. Forecourts represent a 

significant and growing number of stores and we 

will continue to develop our brands and drive 

4 LATEST NEwS, EvENTS, jObS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

Paris-based company, Europe’s biggest refiner, 

plans to sell a European plant outside France 

with the capacity to process about 200 000 

barrels a day, Jean-Jacques Mosconi, Senior 

Vice President for strategy, said earlier this 

month. TOTal is trimming oil-refining capacity 

by about 20 percent after the recession 

cut fuel demand. Chevron Corp. has hired 

Deutsche Bank aG for the 1.3 billion pound 

sale of its Pembroke refinery in Wales and 

U.K. fuel stations, it is reported. The plant 

has the capacity to process 210 000 barrels of 

oil a day. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has said it’s 

negotiating with Essar Oil ltd. to sell three 

European oil refineries including its Stanlow 

plant in Cheshire, England. 

Hamburg will broaden Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s 

tank gauge and vapor recovery offering for our 

retail and commercial fueling customers”, said 

Peter Dilnot, President, Gilbarco Veeder-Root 

EMEa & asia. “Fafnir’s product portfolio, 

coupled with Gilbarco’s strong distribution 

and service network, will be of great value to 

our customers.” Fafnir’s prior owner, Dieter 

Sager, commented, “We are pleased to welcome 

Gilbarco as a partner that will enhance the 

outstanding success Fafnir has enjoyed since 

the company’s beginning over forty years ago. 

We are excited about joining our two businesses 

together.” Fafnir will retain its product brands 

and will continue to operate out of its Hamburg, 

Germany location as a division of Gilbarco 

Veeder-Root. Rolf Schaal and René albrecht 

will continue as Managing Directors of Fafnir. 

new initiatives for forecourts.” Musgrave has 

also established a ‘Forecourt Forum’ where it 

works with its most successful forecourt retailers 

to recognise best practice and analyse ranging 

and availability issues. It has also developed a 

‘space matrix’ to calculate the most efficient use 

of space for every new and refitted forecourt. 

In addition, forecourt specific planograms have 

been used to develop ranges for key categories. 

Smith concluded: “We’re planning to drive the 

forecourt business in 2010 through improved 

till execution and promotions, and macro and 

micro space changes.”


EUrOPEAN NEwS 

5


wincanton wins £ 112 

million contract 

Wincanton has won two contract renewals 

worth £ 112 million with air Products and 

Chevron. The three-year deal with Chevron 

continues a 17-year partnership and is worth 

£ 60 million. Wincanton will collect nine 

billion litres of fuel from Chevron’s UK 

terminals, and deliver it to Texaco-branded 

petrol stations The air Products deal is 

worth £ 52 million over three years, and 

involves the logistics company transporting 

80 000 tonnes of gas every month from 

seven air Products sites in the UK, making 

100 deliveries daily. Wincanton Chief 

Executive Graeme McFaull says: “These 

new contract extensions are testament to 

the continuing strength of Wincanton’s 

core markets in the UK.” 

brulines announces 

the acquisition of ELS 

Brulines Group plc, the market leading 

provider of real time monitoring systems 

and data management services for the UK 

leisure sector, has announced that it has 

agreed to acquire Energy level Systems 

ltd. (“ElS”), the UK distributor of OPW 

Fuel Management Systems tank gauging 

solutions based in Market Harborough, from 

astoncrest Consultants limited. ElS was 

established in December 2008 to acquire 

the OPW Fuel Management Systems distributorship, 

which it successfully achieved 

in February 2009. Immediately prior to 

completion of the acquisition, ElS will 

acquire the tank lining, liquefied petroleum 

gas and forecourt services businesses of 

Graphite UK ltd., also based in Market 

Harborough UK. 

Petrol retail. business, 

Payments and Technologies. 

russia & CIS 2010 

On May 31 st , 2010, PlUS Journal will hold in 

Moscow the 2nd International Forum “Petrol 

Retail. Business, Payments and Technologies. 

Russia & CIS 2010”, dedicated to the 

urgent problems of the refueling business 

in Russia and the CIS countries, ways to 

solve them and prospects for development 

of the industry as a whole. The first Forum 

was held in 2009. Visa Inc. was the title 

sponsor. The Forum had also a wide range 

of partners, including Hypercom, VeriFone, 

INPaS, UniTeller, SCON, ScanTech, Terminal 

Technologies and Hectronic. More 

details www.plusworld.org 

erpec 2 11 

– comes to barcelona 

If you like football, It’s the same as The 

World Cup and the European Championships. 

Every two years one takes place, but 

it seems an eternity between each event, unless 

of course you happen to be organising it! 

For us we haven’t stopped working since we 

waved goodbye to everyone from the banks of 

lago Maggiore, back in spring last year and 

we are very excited to announce that next 

year’s event will take place in the five star, 

Rey Juan Carlos Hotel, in the centre of one 

of Europe’s top city destinations, Barcelona. 

The Rey Juan Carlos Resort, surrounded by 

its own tropical gardens, is located only ten 

minutes from Barcelona International airport, 

a huge logistical plus factor for delegates, 

especially for those travelling long distances. 

EU refers Shell asset sale in Greece to the 

Greek Competition Authority 

The European Commission (EC) decided 

to refer to the Greek Competition authority 

the examination of a proposed acquisition 

of Shell’s activities in the Greek oil sector 

by Motor Oil of Greece. On 27 January, the 

EC received a notification whereby Motor Oil 

would acquire sole control over Greek-based 

Shell Gas Commercial and Industrial and 

of Shell Hellas from the Royal Dutch Shell 

Group. Simultaneously, Motor Oil and Shell 

Overseas Holdings limited (SOHl, UK), 

a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, would 

create a joint venture to be active in the 

SOCAr progress in 

Ukraine 

The State Oil Company of azerbaijan 

(SOCaR) is continuing to develop its business 

in Ukraine. SOCaR president Rovnag 

abdullayev informed that the Company 

had already acquired 20 gasoline stations 

in Ukraine and was working now on their 

re-branding. a terminal for storage of oil 

products has also been purchased. The 

Company established a similar sales network 

in Georgia, which now includes 33 stations 

and has a target of 50 – 60 before the end 

of the year. 


Staying on a football theme, the ‘Kings’ hotel 

as it is known, stands in the shadows of the 

famous Camp Nou stadium, home to Barcelona 

football club and for anyone who is 

interested, the venue have already granted 

us a facility to tour the stadium on one of 

the afternoons we are there. 

Back to business! Early bird booking forms will 

be available from May 1st for past delegates 

only and we hope most companies will sign 

up as soon as possible. Places, particularly for 

suppliers may be limited this time. Delegate 

places for new suppliers can be booked from 

June 1st onwards. 

More details at this stage can be found at 

www.erpec.com 

supply of aviation fuel at Greek airports. last 

September, Shell agreed to sell the majority 

of its Greek activities to Motor Oil (Hellas) 

Corinth Refineries in a deal worth 219 million 

euros. Shell owns 720 petrol stations in 

Greece. The Greek Competition Commission 

(HCC) argued that the affected markets 

were local in nature and it was better placed 

to appreciate the competitive impact of the 

operations. The EC accepted the argument 

that Greece would be best placed to assess 

the impact of the proposed transaction on 

the Greek markets. 

New website for CECOd 

CECOD is the Committee of European Manufacturers 

of Petroleum Measuring and Distri - 

buting Equipment, a non-profit association, 

providing facilities for its members to share 

technical information related to fuel measuring 

and dispensing technologies and processes. 

CECOD members work closely with European 

Member States and authorities in all relevant 

matters in support of its deep commitment to 

promote the unification of European legal 

Metrology, Safety and Environmental legis - 

lation together with its subsequent enforcement. 

To have a look at their new web pages please 

visit www.cecod.eu


7

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

Three new accreditations for Xmo Strata 

Sign installation and maintenance firm, Xmo 

Strata, has added three new accreditations to 

its name. The accreditations awarded to the 

company and certified by ISOQaR – auditors 

for Quality, Environmental and Health 

& Safety Standards – include: 

OHSAS 18001 – the latest certification 

specification for Occupational Health and 

Safety Management Systems. ISO 9001 – the 

International Standard for Quality Management 

and ISO 14001 – the Environmental 

Management Standard 

Indigo and Edensure sign Strategic Partnership 

Indigo have announced the company has 

entered into a strategic partnership with 

Edensure, a wholly owned subsidiary of 

Brulines Group plc. The company says that 

taking data seamlessly from the Indigo EPOS, 

the combination will allow a fully integrated 

solution for wet stock data analysis. Baljit Tank 

of Indigo Retail commented ‘The integration’ 

gives real peace of mind to retailers, with 

the knowledge that wet stock data is sent to 

NCT supply Petrol Plus system to Engen Petroleum 

NCT, a developer and supplier of customized 

business solutions, has accomplished 

the installation of Petrol Plus loyalty and 

fleet cards system at the petrol stations 

of Engen Petroleum in Rwanda, africa. 

NCT supplied Petrol Plus system to provide 

cashless payment operations between 

Engen Petroleum and its corporate clients 

zeppini and Ecoflex announce joint venture 

agreement for local and international markets 

Zeppini and Ecoflex, both manufacturers of 

Petrol Station equipment, announced at the 

beginning of last month, the creation of a joint 

venture which consolidates the operations 

for the local and international markets. as 

a result a new brand “Zeppini Ecoflex”, with 

a new visual identity has been created with 

a full range of environmental products for 

“We committed to providing the best service 

possible to our customers when the company 

was founded eight years ago and these accreditations 

have been one of the goals in this”, 

said Xmo Strata Managing Director, Steve 

Martin. “They tell the rest of the world what 

our customers already know, that we have 

some of the best management programmes 

and procedures in the industry.” Xmo Strata 

counts retailers, retail parks, financial services 

companies, and leading oil companies and 

forecourt chains amongst its customers. 

Edensure automatically and regularly. This, 

‘third eye’, will be invaluable to retailers in 

managing the most valuable stock commodity 

in their business. Phil Maud, Managing 

Director of Brulines Forecourt Division said, 

“The relationship with Indigo is a key development 

for Edensure; significantly increasing 

the number of forecourts we are working with 

and providing access to a strong customer 

base going forward.” 

at 20 petrol stations in Rwanda. as part of 

the agreement NCT issued branded fuel 

cards, installed wireless POS terminals, 

and carried out integration with client’s 

ERP system. High safety of operation is 

significantly increased by Petrol Plus RFID 

module which performs additional identification 

of a commercial fleet by reading an 

RFID tag fixed at the vehicle. The given 

solution will considerably reduce the risk 

of fraud and unauthorized fuel consumption. 

loyalty and fleet card solutions are 

in high demand in african countries and 

both companies see this as a first step towards 

an extended cooperation for Engen’s 

petroleum retail operations. 

More details www.petrol-plus.com 

petrol stations. a joint statement stated that 

the objective of the joint venture is to bring 

larger competitiveness to dispute the national 

and international markets as well as adding 

the experience in technology, products line, 

logistics and distribution that will be strengthened 

to assist the market and the growth of 

the demand in the next five years. 


SUPPLIEr NEwS 

George bush to speak 

at PEI / NACS 2010 

Registration and housing is now open for 

the PEI / NaCS Show 2010, the USa’s 

most comprehensive event for petroleum 

retailing professionals. This year’s NaCS 

Show will take place October 5 th to 8 th 

at the Georgia World Congress Center 

in atlanta and hot off the press is news 

that President George W. Bush has been 

announced as a closing general session 

speaker. Full registration, which includes 

admission to the general sessions, workshops, 

expo and the Welcome Reception, 

is US $ 275 for NaCS members and 

US $ 425 for all other attendees. This 

super-saver rate is available through 

august 13 th . Other rates apply for oneday 

registration or expo-only registration. 

Exhibitor registration will be available 

in June. Organisers say that more than 

22 500 attended last year. 

More details www.pei.org 

Eurotank signs exclusive 

European 

agreement with GEA 

Eurotank Environmental limited, a leading 

provider of fuel storage system maintenance 

services, has recently completed 

the training of it’s key management staff 

in GEa’s extensive range of environmental 

testing and compliance solutions with 

full training being currently rolled out 

to it’s technicians based in Southampton, 

Manchester and East Kilbride. GEa’s 

products include Petro-tite, the worlds 

first EPa certified hydrostatic pressure 

and suction line leak detection equipment, 

which can pinpoint leaks as low as 

40 million litres per hour. also Vapour 

panel, which measures pressure decay 

(system tightness) as well as vent / vapour 

line blockages and PV valve performance. 

This equipment has been developed and 

used extensively in the US and globally to 

provide early detection of underground line 

leaks and Stage 2 vapour recovery (VR) 

system performance. Eurotank has been 

selected by GEa as it’s European partner 

and as well as providing these services to 

the UK and Ireland downstream industry, 

is seeking to find partners in other 

European countries. Edward Wheeler, 

Managing Director of Eurotank stated: 

‘‘We are honoured to be selected as GEa’s 

European partner. If a retailer has a non 

pump related Stage 2 problem, Eurotank 

is the company to contact.” 

9


AdvErTISEMENT

Engen plans to take over bP assets in African countries 

Growing oil company Engen plans to take over 

the assets of its rival, BP, in the countries from 

which BP is pulling out. BP announced last 

month that it will be pulling out of five southern 

african countries as a result of a strategic 

review. a top Engen official said the company 

will take advantage of this opportunity and 

buy BP assets as part of its expansion strategy 

and penetration into new markets. “We’re 

on a growth programme and they’re selling 

assets”, Wayne Hartmann, Engen’s General 

Manager for international business, said in 

an interview in Cape Town. “We’re very small 

in Tanzania and missing in Malawi.” While 

some of its rivals are reducing activities in 

africa, Engen has a “positive outlook” on the 

continent and rolled out a record 30 sites last 

year, Hartmann said. While the company has 

a “healthy balance sheet”, a stock exchange 

listing to fund acquisitions has not been ruled 

out, he said. Engen, which has 40 filling stations 

across Botswana, is already listed on the 

Botswana Stock Exchange’s foreign board and 

is the third largest oil company in Botswana 

Shell sells New zealand fuel retailing assets 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to sell its New 

Zealand fuel-retailing assets to Infratil ltd. and 

the New Zealand government pension fund for 

NZ $ 696.5 million (US $ 492 million) to focus 

on oil and gas production. The parties have 

been in exclusive talks since November. Shell, 

Europe’s biggest oil company, is selling its New 

Zealand fuel-retailing and refining interests as 

vietnam fuel companies given more pricing freedom 

Vietnamese fuel traders have been given more 

autonomy in adjusting prices based on market 

supply and demand, but the government will 

continue to oversee their pricing, an official 

informed. “It’s not correct to say the government 

has given fuel companies the right to 

set prices on their own”, Deputy Industry and 

Trade Minister Nguyen Cam Tu said. “Fuel 

companies are only allowed to decide prices 

SPAr signs deal over d-Store POS solution in South 

Africa with POS Systemhaus from Austria 

SPaR (South africa) has signed a deal to 

implement D-Store, the POS software solution 

from austrian company POS Systemhaus, 

across its international store network. Initially, 

the checkout software will be installed at all 

newly-opened outlets beginning this year. In 

addition, all retailers already associated with 

the group both in South africa and abroad 

with their approximately 7 000 cash registers 

will be equipped with the new software within 

after BP and Shell. In a statement last week, 

BP africa CEO, Sipho Maseko, said he was 

confident the businesses they are looking to 

sell will offer good value and great potential 

to a purchaser, particularly given the strong 

economic outlook of the region as whole. “a 

new owner can build on our good assets and 

grow the business further”, he said. “all of our 

operations are leading marketing businesses 

with strong market shares, well-run operations, 

experienced and capable employees and strong 

health and safety performance.” 

BP, which has been in africa for over 80 

years, has been operating in Botswana as an 

independent company since 1975 when it split 

from Shell. BP Botswana has over 40 retail 

sites across the country where it has been 

competing with Shell, Engen, Caltex and Total. 

If Engen takes over BP in Botswana, it stands 

to enjoy the latter’s wide range of customers 

and contracts, among them Debswana, BCl, 

BDF, the government’s Central Transport 

Organisation, as well as big construction firms 

and transport companies. 

part of a global focus on production in expanding 

markets. Infratil’s purchase makes it the 

nation’s biggest fuel retailer at a time when low 

returns are driving out independent operators 

and prompting global players to review their 

interests. The Shell assets comprise 229 filling 

stations, 95 truck stops, port terminals and a 

17 percent stake in New Zealand Refining Co. 

to a certain extent.” Since December 15 last 

year, the government has allowed fuel traders 

to raise pump prices automatically without 

seeking government consent if world prices rise 

by seven percent or more. Tu’s comment last 

week was in response to a question as to why, 

after the deregulation, the Finance Ministry 

last month still asked fuel traders to temporarily 

halt all price hikes to control inflation. 

the next three to five years. The announcement 

comes after a successful 12 month run of pilot 

installations. Enno Stelma, CIO of SPaR 

(South africa), said the software’s “wide base 

of installations convinced us that D-Store is 

absolutely applicable for the african market.” 

The software will be used in combination with 

Windows XP and Windows 7. D-Store is also 

deployed by SPaR austria and in all country 

operations of German Rewe Group. 


NEwS – MIddLE EAST, AFrICA & ASIA 

downstream strategies 

of ExxonMobil 

in New zealand 

a shake-up in petrol station ownership 

looks set to continue as global oil giant 

ExxonMobil continues to investigate the 

potential sale of its New Zealand distribution 

and retailing, or downstream, business. 

Two parties are looking at ExxonMobil’s 

downstream operations, which include 183 

petrol stations and a 19.2 percent stake 

in the country’s only oil refinery, the New 

Zealand Refining Company. 

Smartflex piping systems 

selected by both 

Oman Oil and ENOC 

Smartflex has been selected by Oman 

Oil for its double wall fully coaxial piping 

and fittings system, which the company 

says has the latest international and 

local approvals. It has also been chosen by 

ENOC for their new sites in Dubai and 

neighbouring areas. 

OPw opens new manufacturing 

facility in India 

OPW Fueling Components have announced 

the opening of its newest manufacturing 

facility in Chennai, India. This state-ofthe-art 

manufacturing facility is, the company 

says, part of OPW’s global expansion 

strategy and demonstrates commitment 

to localize its presence in the markets it 

serves. President David Crouse said “This 

is a proud moment for our company as it 

represents our dedication to align ourselves 

as close as possible to the customers we 

serve. With this new manufacturing facility, 

we will be able vastly enhance our customer 

service levels.” 

bahrain: Privatisation 

plans are unveiled 

Petrol stations owned by Bapco in Bahrain 

could be tendered to the private 

sector at the end of the year, according 

to Economic Development Board chief 

executive Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa 

al Khalifa. Bahrain also plans to privatise 

the country’s loss-making carrier Gulf air 

and other public services like hospitals 

and waste management companies, as 

it seeks to diversify its economy from oil 

and build up a viable private sector and 

a tax-based economy. 

11


Fuel pricing to be 

uniform in zambia 

The local government says it will introduce 

uniform pricing of fuel and other petroleum 

products across the country in June 

this year. Minister of Energy and Water 

Development Kenneth Konga informed the 

Parliament that Government is working 

out measures to ensure that the pricing 

of fuel is at the same level, both in urban 

and rural areas. 

Petrol pump owners 

announce shutdown 

in bangladesh 

Petrol pump owners announced a half-day 

countrywide shutdown of filling stations 

in Bangladesh on one day last month 

to enforce a 13-point list of demands 

which includes increasing commission 

on the sale of petroleum products to 7 

percent from the existing 2.7 percent, 

constructing a terminal, awarding licenses 

for weapons to pump owners, stopping 

harassment by the police, stopping pilferage 

of petroleum products in the depots, 

formulating petrol pump establishment 

policy and introducing an insurance 

policy for the tank-lorry drivers. Who 

said selling petroleum was easy! 

woolworths Australia 

switches on renewable 

energy 

Woolworths is trialling the use of renewable 

energy to partly power its petrol 

stations. The company switched on the 

solar panels at its Belconnen outlet, in 

northern Canberra, in what it claims to 

be an australian first. It is the first time 

a major retail company has generated 

on-site renewable energy, it said. The 

retailer expects the panels will generate 

about 15 percent (or 60 kilowatts) of 

the site’s total energy needs – enough to 

power store and bowser lighting. If the 

Belconnen trial and another at Hume in 

the aCT are successful, solar panels will 

be rolled out at other outlets throughout 

the country, but only where incentives 

are offered. “at the moment costs are 

prohibitively high and incentives like the 

aCT gross feed-in tariff are needed to 

give renewable energy generation a kick 

start”, Woolworths head of petrol, Ramnik 

Narsey, said in a statement. 

Caution over impending bP Africa share transfer 

an energy expert has challenged the government 

through the Zambia Competition Commission 

(ZCC) to ensure that the impending 

share transfer of BP africa does not land in the 

hands of other international oil companies alone 

Commenting on the proposed sale of 75 percent 

shares by BP africa, a South african-based 

Zambian petrochemical consultant said the 

trend of international investors leaving their 

assets on the laps of another international 

company when they get tired must not be 

treated as business as usual. 

The consultant stated that the country should 

not experience what happened when aGIP and 

Mobil pulled out and outlets were sold to Total 

thereby making Total a dominant company. He 

PTT looks beyond the pump in Thailand 

“PTT Plc, Thailands national energy conglomerate, 

will start its five-year plan to improve its 

petrol stations’ image, shifting more to service 

businesses as they offer higher profit than 

petrol”, says Vitaya Wangchitaruck, Executive 

Vice President for PTT Retail Marketing. 

“The image overhaul will begin next month 

and run until 2014”, he said. PTT currently 

operates 1 100 stations across Thailand in 

three categories: ‘pump in the park’, platinum 

park and standard pump. Pump in the park is 

for high-traffic areas with big potential sales 

volumes. PTT’s new design will add more 

service businesses, such as banks, restaurants, 

minimarts and CD shops. This requires more 

than six rai of land for each station and an 

investment of more than 60 million baht. The 

company aims to increase its pump-in-the-park 

stations from 22 to 100 by 2014. 

a platinum pump site requires only one to four 

rai of land. Petrol sales volumes are lower and 

there are fewer service outlets. PTT aims to 

have 400 platinum pump stations. The other 

700 standard pump stations are in locations 

with less traffic, requiring just one 7-Eleven 

convenience store. “The new designs for these 

three concepts will be finished by next month”, 

said Mr. Vitaya, adding that the total budget 

was still being determined. 

Most of the large, pump-in-the-park units, are 

operated by PTT itself. However, PTT owns 

only 30 percent of its 1 100 station sites. The 

12 

LATEST NEwS, ALTErNATIvE EvENTS, FUEL jObS NEwS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

– www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

added that the departure of long time investors 

present a unique opportunity for indigenous 

entrepreneurs to take over. 

The consultant added that BP Zambia owns 

and controls some of the wealthiest sites in 

Zambia. “Without undermining the burden 

of other international oil companies seeking 

for more glory by buying the assets of BP, the 

government must ensure that this company is 

unbundled site by site including the lucrative 

sites that are in the mines.” at lumwana mine 

alone, the sales output is more than one million 

litres per month while some filling stations sell 

a paltry 150 000 litres per month. BP africa has 

announced its intention to pull out of Zambia, 

Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania and Botswana. 

remaining 70 percent are owned by landlords or 

oil dealers, or are joint ventures between PTT 

and landlords. “The sales and profit figures in 

the past have proven our theory that non-oil 

business can bring us higher profit than selling 

petrol alone, as the competition among petrol 

stations is tough and margin per litre is very 

low”, said Mr. Vitaya. “We will maintain this 

new look until 2019 after we have completed 

the current re-imaging in 2014. another big 

change will be made again later that year.” 

PTT’s major partners in the non-oil business 

include 7-Eleven for convenience stores, amazon 

Cafe’ coffee shops, Pro Check for car care 

and Krungsri ayudhya for banking services. 

“These three service businesses have their loyal 

customers. Combined with PTT customers, it 

could translate into more customers for all of 

us”, Mr. Vitaya added. 

The 7-Eleven stores at PTT stations total 800 

and will reach 900 by the year-end. It now has 

390 amazon Cafe’ outlets, expected to exceed 

500 by year-end. The company will maintain 

all 146 minimarts run under the Jiffy brand, 

which came along with the national network 

of Jet petrol stations, which PTT acquired 

from ConocoPhillips three years ago. The Jiffy 

mart has a strong reputation among motorists. 

It has a significant amount of big fans. “also, 

we can learn from the management system 

from Jet to improve our existing system in 

some aspects”, said Mr. Vitaya.

Unpopular fuel scheme scrapped in Malaysia 

The Malaysian Government has officially 

scrapped its plan to introduce the two-tiered 

restructuring of fuel subsidy following negative 

feedback from the public. The plan, originally 

set to be implemented on May 1 st , was to introduce 

a two-tiered pricing system for petrol 

based on engine capacity while foreigners 

would have to pay the market price. It called 

for the mandatory use of MyKad to differentiate 

Malaysians from foreigners, requiring the 

need for MyKad readers at petrol stations. a 

government statement said “the price of fuel 

would remain the same for now as there was no 

Ensign Services announces reverse merger in vietnam 

Ensign Services Inc confirmed that it completed 

a reverse merger with Tin Nghia Petrol Joint 

Stock Company in august 2009. The management 

believes the reverse merger transaction 

is one of the first successful reverse mergers 

of a Vietnamese company on the U.S. stock 

exchanges. The company intends to complete 

a name change to Timex assets and Services. 

Timex has 28 petrol stations along major routes 

in Vietnam’s Dong Nai province and is one 

of the key suppliers of gasoline to factories in 

russia’s LUKOIL exits Iran under US pressure 

Russia’s largest privately-owned crude oil 

producer has announced it is pulling out of 

Iran’s anaran oil project due to sanctions 

imposed by the United States. 

lUKOIl Vice President leonid Fedun said 

that it was impossible for the company to 

continue to participate in the anaran field as 

long as US sanctions are in force. The anaran 

block in western Iran is estimated to have 

reserves of 2 billion barrels and was operated 

by a consortium of Norway’s StatoilHydro 

In India, Mumbai gets its new stage Iv fuel 

With the new Bharat Stage IV emission norms 

in effect since 1 st april, the main Indian oil 

companies have prepared to meet the requirements 

of the city of Mumbai. The Mumbai 

metropolis requires more than 80 million litres 

of fuel every month and three oil companies 

will supply both petrol and diesel through their 

existing 243 outlets. Bharat Petroleum has 97 

service stations, Hindustan Petroleum has 97 

service stations and Indian Oil Corporation 

has 49 service stations in the city of Mumbai. 

“Mumbai requires at least 80 million litres per 

month and the three companies will supply the 

BS IV fuel through their 243 outlets”, BPCl’s 

General Manager (Retail), West Region, PC 

Srivastava, said. The city requires 49 million 

directive to announce any hike. The statement 

went on to say that they do not know when 

that will happen but the public must remember 

that fuel price fluctuates.” Foreigners can still 

purchase fuel according to petrol pump price. 

But the policy governing the sale of petrol to 

foreign-registered vehicles at border areas 

remains, and according to a ministry official, 

the ministry would be proposing to the Cabinet 

another “policy for foreigners”. Currently, 

foreign-registered vehicles are only allowed to 

pump a maximum of 20 litres at petrol stations 

within 50 kilometre radius from the border. 

the region’s industrial parks. additional gas 

stations are planned within the next four years. 

The company intends to expand its business 

through the acquisition and construction 

of additional gas stations on major national 

routes and industrial parks. Such growth plans 

would utilize what management believes is the 

company’s current competitive advantage of 

having an established network of gas stations 

and strong brand recognition to capture additional 

customer loyalty and spending dollars. 

(75 percent) and lUKOIl Overseas (25 percent). 

although seemingly pulling out now for the 

time being, the head of lUKOIl’s overseas 

production arm insisted during a March 24 

presentation in london that the company was 

not abandoning Iran altogether “We aren’t 

saying goodbye”, said andrei Kuzyaev as he 

presented the company’s US GaaP statement 

for 2009. “It’s just the principal position of our 

auditors and doesn’t mean that we lose the 

rights to that project.” 

litres of regular fuel and 40 million litres of 

diesel per month. BPCl has already started 

supplying 15 million litres of BS IV fuel through 

its service station network of 97 outlets, Srivastava 

said. “The petroleum sector has constantly 

endeavoured to provide clean and green fuels 

to Mumbaikars”, he said. India adopted stricter 

emission norms under which 13 major cities have 

been upgraded to BS IV from BS III as per the 

recommendations of the Mashelkar Committee 

to control pollution from april. 

erpecnews e-book 

If you want to read the electronic versions of 

erpecnews, please visit www.erpecnews.com 

and click on online e-book. 


Temporary filling 

stations setting up on 

Algerian East-west 

motorway 

The algerian Public Works Minister amar 

Ghoul, announced the setting-up of several 

temporary filling stations along the completed 

sections of the East-West motorway 

in algeria.16 temporary filling stations in 

total will be set up soon in collaboration 

with the national company Naftal, pending 

the launch of calls for tenders for rest 

and service areas for the users of the 

1 216-kilometres long motorway. 

Fuel shortages continue 

in Uganda 

Fuel shortages continued in Uganda this 

month, after the government admitted that 

its reserves have run out. State Minister 

for Energy Simon D’ujanga said their Jinja 

reserves have no fuel because they are being 

refurbished. “We are now relying on the 

reserves from the fuel companies”, he said 

while giving the government’s view on the 

shortage at a public meeting. The refurbishing 

of the reserves has been ongoing since 

the late 2007 political crisis in Kenya broke 

out, even though Mr D’ujanga said they will 

be ready by July / august. Throughout the 

Easter holiday, most service stations in and 

around Kampala had no petrol and those 

which had it sold it between UGX 2 900- 

UGX 3 200. Kobil Uganda’s Marketing 

Manager Peter Ochieng in an interview with 

Daily Monitor said the Easter holiday made 

the situation worse because they could not 

load the fuel. Earlier in the month, Kobil 

delivered close to 50 000 litres of petrol in 

one week and expected another close to 

700 000 litres to arrive into Uganda next 

month from Dar and Mombasa port, according 

to Mr Ochieng. Engen Uganda’s 

Managing Director Fredrick Gibson said 

they have less than 1 000 litres of fuel 

in Kampala. Commenting on the delays 

in the construction of the oil pipeline by 

Tamoil, the minister said they are still 

discussing with the government of Kenya, 

to have a reverse effect of the pipeline so 

that it can do both the importation and 

exportation of oil, when the country starts 

exploration of its oil. as a medium term 

solution to avert to situation, Mr D’ujunga 

said; “The government is looking into the 

alternative sea route through Tanzania as 

the country awaits its long term solution 

of oil exploration being developed in South 

Western Uganda.” 

LATEST NEwS, EvENTS, jObS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 13 

13

ISTObAL 

Celebrating 60 years of success 

Left to right: Javier díaz, Sonia Mañas, david Casanova 

When I first thought about the idea of producing 

erpecnews, getting out of the office 

and meeting erpec delegates in their own 

surroundings was the main drive behind the 

concept, which I am pleased to say has resulted 

in a great many worthwhile experiences for 

me over the last two years and hopefully 

some interesting features for the magazine. 

But for me personally there was always going 

to be something very special about visiting a 

major factory, probably because, due to my 

marketing background I have never actually 

been asked to make anything in my life. On 

a personal level I did once craft a wooden 

chair at school which my parents still use for 

the cat to sleep on, but apart from that my 

manufacturing skills are non-existent. 

So the chance to visit Istobal HQ and their 

factory, just outside Valencia in Spain, was 

an opportunity I could not afford to miss, 

especially as the company involved, widely 

considered as one of the world leaders in the 

vehicle washing industry, operates the lean 

manufacturing system created by Toyota 

on their manufacturing and assembly lines. 

Since 1972, Istobal has designed engineered 

and manufactured car washes, accounting 

for over 40 000 units in operation across 67 

countries in the world today. Prior to this, 

the company, which was founded in 1950 

and this year celebrates its 60th year in 

business, manufactured greasing machinery 

and car lifts for the garage equipment sector. 

Originally, its founder, Ismael Tomás alacreu, 

had experienced considerable success with a 

lubrication machine which led to developing 

a strong business in the motor trade industry, 

but for many years now Istobal have solely 

produced car wash machines. Today employees 

at Istobal account for over 550 workers at its 

Headquarters 20 minutes from Valencia’s city 

centre. Worldwide presence centres around 

50 distributors covering most of Europe and 

as far away places such as New Zealand, 

Mexico, UaE, Russia, USa and argentina. 

So it was to the very picturesque old town 

of l’alcúdia, the name of the location where 

Istobal’s offices actually are, that I went, ac- 

14 

LATEST ALTErNATIvE FUEL NEwS – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

by Nick Needs 

companied on this occasion by PetrolPlaza 

team member Sandra Stroppel. as it happens 

Sandra also speaks fluent Spanish, having 

previously lived and worked in the Valencia 

area. This for me was always going to be a 

bonus should we get lost, or experience any 

problems, as my ability to speak Spanish is 

limited at best. anyway, me getting lost, having 

problems, needing help, not a chance, as 

I was a hardened business traveller prepared 

for anything! Read on. 

The Istobal HQ site is huge, there is no other 

word for it, occupying a total area of 80 000 

sq. metres. Interestingly enough though, the 

company has never had to move from its original 

base, where in 1950 orange trees surrounded 

a small repair shop, the building where it 

first started out. Replacing the orange trees 

since is a vast factory and impressive office 

buildings which very much incorporates most 

of what Istobal do in the car wash industry 

today. In charge of Corporate Marketing at 

Istobal is Sonia Mañas, who accompanied by

Key account Manager David Casanova and 

Market Development Manager Javier Díaz, 

were our primary meeting partners for the 

day. after a quick briefing in the boardroom 

we were quickly moved on to meet with the 

Quality Manager Álvaro Vilar and the lean 

Support Manager Javier Correa, who would 

take us on to the factory floor and guide us 

step by step, through their manufacturing 

procedures. as mentioned earlier in this 

article, Istobal’s production line is based on 

the lean manufacturing system, fashioned 

and styled originally by Japanese car manufacturer 

Toyota, the principles of which are 

used throughout the world today by some of 

the largest manufacturers in the world. The 

lean manufacturing system is also known 

as lean Production – ‘Doing more for less’, 

driven by five key areas of manufacturing. 

Cost, quality, delivery, safety and staff morale. 

Underpinning this, as Álvaro and Javier 

explained are seven key principles. 

Reduced Setup Times: all setup practices 

are deemed to be wasteful as they add no 

value and tie up labour, so by organising 

things differently, workers are trained to do 

their own setups. Small-Lot Production: 

Producing things in large batches results 

in high-speed dedicated machinery costs, 

extended lead times and larger defect costs. 

Employee Involvement and Empowerment: 

Organise workers in teams with a team 

leader and give them each the responsibility 

and training to do many specialised tasks. 

Teams should be given responsibility for 

housekeeping and minor equipment repair. 

Quality at the Source: Since workers are 

in the best position to discover a defect and 

to immediately fix it, they are assigned this 

responsibility. If a defect cannot be readily 

fixed, any worker can halt the entire line by 

pulling a cord called a Jidoka. Equipment 

Maintenance: assign operators primary 

responsibility for basic maintenance, since 

they are in the best position to defect signs of 

malfunctions. Pull Production and Justin-time: 

The quantity of work performed at 

each stage of the process is dictated solely by 

demand for materials from the immediate next 

stage. Supplier Involvement: Suppliers are 

partners and an integral element of the lean 

manufacturing. Suppliers are trained in ways 

to reduce setup times, inventories; defects, 

machine breakdowns etc., and take responsibility 

to deliver their best possible parts. 

For someone like me who had only ever made 

something you might sit on, the whole process 

as explained to us was truly fascinating. 

It was no surprise that we started our tour 

where each factory worker starts every morning, 

at one of the 20 group meeting points 

or GaP’s spread throughout the factory. In 

keeping with the lean manufacturing model 

we are shown yesterdays production figures, 

how the group is performing to overall targets 

and made aware of any problems that 

need dealing with. Usually workers spend 

5 minutes doing this everyday and they 

seem to unreservedly welcome it. Going too 

far maybe, might be to say that they almost 

seem to generate a degree of pride from the 

whole process. all the information workers 

see is designed to allow them to operate on 

a more informed basis, whilst having a group 

hug at the same time i.e. serious bonding with 

other members of the team, which normally 

amounts to 10 – 15 people in each. 

We were told as we walked around that the 

Product Development Department has the 

challenging task of applying new technological 

advances to the design and manufacture of 

Istobal’s products. The engineers work with 

a combination of the most up-to-date CaD 

design and CaM construction programs to 

achieve optimum levels of quality. The designs 

are taken from high tech computers and turned 

into real products by the different sections of 

Istobal’s workshops, where, part by part, the 

various components of Istobal’s products are 

made. The robots used in the car industry 

also play an important role in the Istobal plant, 

where they are used in the welding process. 

The company say they take great efforts to 

guarantee the quality of parts and machines 

through on-going training programmes and by 

integrating new quality control systems into 

the processes of manufacturing and assembly. 

The Treatment of Surfaces Workshop was 

also fascinating and ensures that the various 

metal parts that make up the product get the 

most suitable protective coatings and finishes. 

The steel structures actually go through a five 

stage process: Stripping, Hot dip galvanizing, 

microcrystalline phosphate coating, Epoxy 

polyamide primer coating and finally a two 

component polyurethane resin coating. There 

are 21 stages in the whole process. 

The latest piece of equipment in Istobal’s 

high tech production line is the Nordson 

Prodigy Power Port. a ‘Star Trek’ type spray 

paint machine in plain English, which is 

more akin to an amusement park attraction 

the way it allows large multi coloured pieces 

of steel to be effortlessly moved around in a 

start finish cycle, suspended high above the 

factory floor. Throughout the visit we regularly 

stopped at other GaP’s meeting points to see 

a different set of tables, group targets and 

key initiatives, designed for another group of 

workers, but also it meant we had time to enjoy 

another cup of strong Spanish coffee, which 

I have to admit on a number of occasions I 

ISTObAL – CELEbrATING 60 yEArS OF SUCCESS 

Sandra Stroppel from petrolplaza, meets Quality Manager 

Álvaro Vilar, Lean Support Manager Javier Correa 

the first stage at which we see recognisable car wash parts 

the Lean production process being demonstrated by 

Álvaro and Javier at one of the 20 Gap’s meeting points 

the nordson prodigy power port, sending ready painted 

batches of car wash parts across the factory floor 

one of eight car washes manufactured that day, for oMV 

LATEST NEwS, EvENTS, jObS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 15

ISTObAL – CELEbrATING 60 yEArS OF SUCCESS 

would have traded for a nice cup of English 

tea. Then again coffee is what everyone else 

drinks in the factory so why shouldn’t I and it 

was great to see that there is a drinks trolley, 

not a vending machine, offering workers a 

personal service, something which today you 

will not see too often in the UK. Next stop, 

quite literally was what I can only describe as 

‘Istobal Central Station’. This transportation 

hub is a vital ingredient in the ‘Just-in-time’ 

process through which a constant flow of 

small containers pass, carrying materials to 

the next stage of their manufacturing process. 

as mentioned earlier in the seven lean 

manufacturing key principles, the quantity 

of the work performed at each part of the 

production process is dictated solely by demand 

for materials from the immediate next 

stage. This ‘Tren’ Spanish for train, operates 

throughout the whole factory and keeps the 

whole manufacturing and assembly process on 

track, showing departure and arrival times on 

a board just like any other railway timetable. 

I suppose seeing the end product, having followed 

a process from start to finish, will always 

be where most people get the greatest buzz, 

for want of a better word. We have seen steel 

cut, welded, assembled and painted. Watched 

the electrical components being loaded into 

their various positions and witnessed how 

brushes are put together through a process 

unique to Istobal, prior to the machine, which 

it has suddenly become, being slotted onto 

one of six roller tracks, leading ultimately 

to the outside world, where it will hoisted 

onto a lorry and transported to its ultimate 

destination. In a normal day Istobal make 

eight machines of sorts and we were lucky to 

see one just finished for OMV, destined for 

somewhere in austria. The range of car wash 

related products actually manufactured by 

Istobal is extensive and includes Roll-Overs, 

Washing Drying Tunnels, Payment Terminals, 

Jet Washes, Enclosures, Water Treatment 

equipment, Washing accessories, plus a 

whole range of commercial wash solutions. 

Their top selling ‘M’ range of Roll-Overs, is 

without doubt their star line, but my feeling, 

having spent a day with this group of extremly 

the ‘tren’ timetable at istobal Central Station with departure 

and arrival times, just like any other mainline station 

innovative people, is that there is much more 

to come in the future. Sonia Mañas kept 

hinting to me that there will be something 

exciting to see at this year’s automechanika 

in Frankfurt, but every time I pushed her on 

the matter she said “You will have to wait and 

see” Sounds promising! 

Back in the offices for half an hour, I met 

with long time erpec delegate and Managing 

Managing Director of Istobal, 

Rafael Tomás 

Director of Istobal, Rafael Tomás and he had 

time to tell me briefly where Istobal’s focus is 

right now: He said “There are two main focus 

points this year regarding markets: one is to 

finalize our consolidation in the European 

market, especially in Germany where we have 

gone through a strong modification of our 

current organization. Our second focus is the 

North american market. The main tasks of our 

Product Development Department regarding 

Europe, is to improve even more the reliability 

of our products with new developments, while 

in North america our main objective is to 

continue adapting our products to the needs 

of this particular market. In general terms 

our strategy is based on hearing our clients, 

mainly the Oil Companies and making sure 

that first we understand their requirements 

and secondly that we are able to give them 

exactly what they need and to be able to do 

this everywhere in today’s globalised market”. 

after a nice “Paella” for lunch with the team, 

what else would you expect, we said our 

thank you’s and headed for the airport, but 

as we were exceptionally well organised, we 

had an hour to spare, so Ms Stroppel and I 

Álvaro shows the just in time process, where only the parts 

for the next job are held at any particular work station 


went to see the City of arts and Sciences, a 

famous modern landmark in Valencia. For 

me it will always be famous as being the 

place where I lost my hire car keys! a 200 

kilometres drive to alicante followed, from 

where I had originally rented the car, to get 

the spare set of keys, in another car I had to 

rent. I was one hundred and fifty kilometres 

on my way back from alicante to Valencia, 

before I realised the car hire company had 

given me the wrong spare keys. another one 

hundred and fifty kilometres back to alicante 

and I finally get the correct set of keys followed 

by another 200 kilometres drive to 

Valencia, before driving the second rented 

car back to Valencia airport and getting a 

taxi back to the first one, which luckily was 

still there. another 200 kilometres and eight 

hours later than I should have been there, I 

was back to alicante checking into a hotel at 

11 pm, having missed two flights home in the 

process. Sadly, they had just stopped doing 

food. luckily, Ms Stroppel was able to leave 

on her scheduled flight many hours earlier, 

as like any hero, I insisted she should leave 

and I would sort out the logistical nightmare I 

was presented with … and she did! However, 

through all of this there was an unexpected 

bonus for me. Whilst driving around Valencia 

that evening, totally lost I must say, I witnessed 

the most spectacular display of street lights I 

have ever seen, evident in every road I drove 

down, attributed I have since learned to Valencia’s 

annual Festival called “The Fallas”, 

which involves extremely loud fireworks, lots 

of dressing up and a great deal of drinking. 

So, if like me, you ever lose a set of car keys 

in Valencia at this time of the year, I recommend 

you simply tell the rental company the 

car has been stolen; you buy some carnival 

clothes, locate yourself in the nearest bar 

and wait for the car rental company to come 

and sort everything out. after all, they said it 

would take 2 – 3 days, which for this particular 

festival is probably just about right. 

For more details visit www.istobal.com 

Valencia’s annual Festival called “Fallas”, a must see for 

anyone visiting town in March with time on their hands

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References: 


XXX 

17

GILbArCO vEEdEr-rOOT 

18 

Gilbarco Veeder-root, eMea & asia president, peter dilnot the GVr Flexpay B2B outdoor payment terminal a GVr SK700 – ii n fuel dispenser with a multi media Crind 

“Everything we do is driven by technology” 

The last time I visited Gilbarco in Basildon UK, 

it was for a meeting with their much respected 

Sales Director John Blake, back in 1990. I think 

Gilbarco had just acquired the business of rival 

pump manufacturer avery Hardoll and I wanted 

to find out about any re-organisation which may 

happen as a result. On my return last week, I 

could not help noticing that the GVR European 

HQ reception had a familiar feel to 20 years ago, 

but with a much more modern twist . I mentioned 

this to the receptionist on duty and she told me 

that she had been working there for 14 years and 

her Mother did the job before her. Comforting 

as you get older, to know that some things, very 

often regarded as incidental, can survive two 

decades of change. avery Hardoll was in fact 

the first of many acquisitions to be made by 

Gilbarco in the coming years. John Blake sadly 

died over 10 years ago. 

In this industry, Gilbarco-Veeder Root is one of 

the first companies instantly coming to mind, 

when the subject of retail petroleum equipment 

and technology is broached. Owned by 

Danaher, listed on the New York Stock Exchange 

and Headquartered in Greensboro USa, GVR 

have an annual revenue figure which exceeds 

US $ 1 billionv and employees 4 000 workers 

in the process. There are 400 GVR distributors 

around the world, supporting key customers at a 

local level, being Multi National Oil Companies, 

Supermarkets, HVR’s, Independent dealers 

and Commercial refuelling outlets. In company 

literature, Gilbarco Veeder-Root is defined as 

being ‘a combination of companies in the petrol 

forecourt industry’, a statement which becomes 

clearer when looking at the individual companies 

making up the GVR group. 

It was in 1865 that Gilbert & Barker first established 

the foundations of Gilbarco in Springfield 

Massachusetts USa and by 1910 the company 

had developed a TI push-pull petroleum pump, 

which 66 years later led to their first electronic 

gasoline pump in 1976. Veeder-Root, founded 

in 1866 as the Root Company and subsequently 

acquired by Danaher in 1986, developed their 

first mechanical computer for Gasoline pumps 

way back in the 1930’s. Red Jacket, another 

primary company in the GVR Group, was first 

established in 1878 and has been developing 

pumps and leak detectors out of Davenport in 

the United States for over 60 years. 

More recent acquisitions for GVR have included 

US companies Gasboy and alki in 2003. Gasboy 

is a leading manufacturer and marketeer of commercial 

electronic and mechanical petroleum 

dispensing systems, fleet management systems 

and transfer pumps and alki is a Seattle-based 

technology developer and software-licensing 

company. In 2004, leading forecourt controller 

provider DOMS joined the group from Denmark, 

followed by US software company Intermedia 

Kiosks in 2007. Swedish forecourt automation 

company autotank, which developed the world’s 

first banknote payment terminal in 1974, came 

into the group in 2008. last year the big acquisition 

was Postec from New Zealand, a company 

with a strong portfolio of hardware and software 

for forecourt control, wet stock management, 

outdoor payment and central reporting, which 

brings with it, its installed base of almost 10 000 

sites in Oceania, India, South East asia, Middle 

East and africa. 

Today as I write this article GVR have just finalised 

two more acquisitions, the first being the Hamburg 

based company Fafnir of Germany, which 

offers a broad range of tank gauging and vapor 

monitoring technology for fueling operators, as 

well as sensing products for the process industry. 


by Nick Needs 

The second company acquired is Mumbai based 

larsen and Toubro, the Indian industrial conglomerate 

which manufacturers, sells, integrates and 

services petroleum dispensers, lPG equipment 

and automation systems solutions, together with 

its installed base which is composed of multinational 

and regional companies, primarily in 

India. Both extremely significant acquisitions in 

their own right, but for the common goal, they fit 

in perfectly with GVR’s technology led strategy, 

which has been the main thrust behind every 

company they have bought in the last 10 years. 

My meeting partner for this visit, 20 years on 

from the last time, was with EMEa and asia 

President, Peter Dilnot, to ask him specifically 

where the company focus actually is right now. 

I wanted to know if getting bigger means it’s getting 

harder for GVR to keep in touch with their 

partners, distributers, installers and eventual end 

users of their products and also ask what Peter 

sees ahead in the future, that we might expect 

to find on an everyday forecourt say in the next 

20 years. I hoped it may also be possible for Peter 

to tell me a little bit more about the emerging 

markets of India and China where he has spent 

a great deal of his time over the last few years. 

Finally, as the acquisitions subject was topical, I 

wanted to ask him about the l&T and Fafnir deals. 

On meeting PD, who shall be referred to as 

such in the following interview, I realized the 

things we had in common were quite limited, 

him having been an officer and helicopter pilot 

in the British army and me, who sees driving a 

tractor around our farm as something dangerous 

and exciting, having never really enjoyed the 

scouts. Strangely enough though, I discovered 

early on in our chat that we had both worked as 

cashiers at a petrol station in the twilight of our 

youth, me in london and Peter in Wales. How

weird is that considering what we are both doing 

today? anyway after quickly agreeing that the 

pay for such a job in those days was scandalous 

and after acknowledging that the products on 

sale in a forecourt shops back then were limited 

to a few sets of windscreen wipers that nobody 

wanted, a rack of spray paint with all the popular 

colours missing and various out of date batteries, 

we swiftly moved on. 

Having graduated at University as a Mechanical 

Engineer, Peter is clearly driven by the nuts and 

bolts of a project i.e. the physical components 

that make something work. He has had a long 

association with GVR, advising at a corporate 

level with Danahar, whilst working for The 

Boston Consulting Group for seven years, prior 

to taking up the role of EMEa Managing Director 

in 2005. last year, after taking on additional 

responsibilities for emerging markets including 

China and India and with a new bolder title, 

Peter says his geographical brief is “pretty much 

most of the global business outside the americas 

and australia”. 

NN: Peter can you first explain how the two new 

acquisitions, Fafnir and L&T, fit into the GVR stable? 

PD:It’s been a really exciting time for Gilbarco 

Veeder-Root recently on the acquisition front. 

We always actively look to buy businesses with 

innovative technology that helps retailers operate 

their networks more profitably. In addition we also 

value businesses with established regional presence 

and customer relationships – especially in emerging 

markets. Our plan is to build a combined platform 

of world-class technology, deployed and supported 

locally. Our two latest acquisitions, both of which 

closed in March, fit exactly with this vision. 

Our acquisition of the PDP business unit of Larson 

& Toubro (L&T) brings both technology and 

improved coverage in India. L&T have a proven 

product range that meets emerging market needs, 

plus an outstanding engineering team that can 

develop our combined portfolio. There’s also a stateof-the-art 

new manufacturing facility in Southern 

India which can produce high quality products for 

export globally. In addition to the technology, L&T 

have some good relationships with India’s leading 

players, plus a comprehensive nationwide service 

network to support national networks. 

The purchase of Fafnir is again driven by technology. 

They have an extensive product range 

covering liquid measurement and vapour recovery 

that complements our existing GVR portfolio. In 

illustration, the Vaporix solution for vapor recovery 

monitoring uses innovative sensor technology with 

no moving parts. This leads to exceptional reliability 

and product lifetime. Finally, Fafnir also 

has a comprehensive global network of distributors 

and service agents. 

So by adding L&T and Fafnir to our family we 

aim to offer customers an even broader range of 

technology, as well enhance our ability to support 

them locally. 

NN: As a group that has come together, mainly 

during the last 10 years, what is GVR’s focus right? 

PD: Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s focus is enabling retailers 

to operate their businesses more efficiently and 

profitably. As well as fuel retailing technology we 

provide integrated solutions for convenience stores. 

This is important given many of our customers’ 

profit pools continue to move towards dry goods. 

More specifically, we enable our customers to be 

more profitable through three core levers. First, we 

can assist with increasing our customers’ revenue. 

Examples here include speeding up transactions, 

increasing throughput, better merchandising and 

customer loyalty. Second, we can reduce our 

customers’ cost of operations, through increasing 

uptime, incorporating remote network management, 

reducing fraud and helping identify fuel 

losses. Thirdly, we support our customers with 

environmental and complete site protection. 

From my perspective Gilbarco Veeder-Root must 

provide solutions that deliver concrete, quantifiable 

value for our customers. We need to enable our 

customers to be more profitable and successful – and 

that’s our focus wherever we operate in the world. 

Peter Dilnot, EMEA & Asia President, 

Gilbarco Veeder-Root 

NN: Is technology the key to everything GVR do? 

It is noticeable that the companies recently coming 

in to the group have all been technology led. 

PD:First and foremost, Gilbarco Veeder-Root is a 

technology company. We invest very significantly 

in developing solutions that enable our customers 

to operate more efficiently and profitably. We do 

this through internal GVR programs, new business 

acquisitions, or technology-led partnerships. 

Whatever the approach, the critical question for 

me is always, ‘what value does this technology really 

bring to our customers?’ If you can’t quantify 

value or return from a customer point of view then 

technology is meaningless. 

One important point on Gilbarco Veeder-Root’s 

technology is how we think both globally and locally. 

We see real value in global technology – through 

innovation, increased scale, global R&D programs 

and large proven field installations. Clearly with 

our global footprint and heritage, we pride ourselves 

on delivering innovations and breakthroughs – for 

example, like the world’s first precision axial-flow 

meter. However, at Gilbarco Veeder-Root we also 

know that technology needs to be adapted and 


GILbArCO vEEdEr-rOOT 

supported locally. To do this we are investing 

heavily in regional teams that can tailor solutions 

to meet their customer needs. In illustration, we 

have significant technical resources in Middle East, 

Asia, China and India that develop local solutions 

and applications. 

Finally, technology is not the only thing we focus on 

at Gilbarco Veeder-Root. We know that networks 

need to be supported and serviced in every market 

– regardless of the technology installed. We have 

a support model that involves high-quality local 

distributors (with intimate market and customer 

knowledge), coupled with direct GVR regional 

support and global back-up. 

After all, what ultimately matters is how networks 

operate day-in, day-out – not just when new 

equipment is installed. I believe the combination 

of GVR’s global technology, local applications 

and intimate market support can make a difference. 

We are certainly working hard to make sure 

this is the case. 

NN: With 400 distributors and the GVR worldwide 

network getting bigger every year, do you feel 

that you have lost some of the personal one to one 

contact you might have had with local markets and 

local customers previously? For example, I know 

some suppliers in this industry which are enjoying 

increased levels of business, simply by offering a 

more hands on personal service, particularly in 

the emerging markets. 

PD: As I’ve said already, we recognize the criticality 

of local, personalised service and support. We do 

have many direct GVR people deployed across the 

world, but we certainly can’t be everywhere all the 

time. This is why we reinforce our direct presence 

with an excellent global network of distributors. 

We know our distributors are pivotal to delivering 

value to customers, and we work with them as 

partners. As GVR we are able to supply leading 

global technology plus specific local applications 

where appropriate. Our distributors provide intimate 

local installation, service and support to our 

customers. It’s a powerful combination, but like 

all partnerships it requires ongoing investment. 

As a result, we have a dedicated GVR team whose 

key function is reinforcing our distribution partnerships 

and the quality of our combined offering. 

We have significant distributor training, quality 

accreditation and field management processes. As 

importantly, there’s always lots of dialogue about 

how we can provide even better solutions for our 

customers. 

Overall, we aim to ensure all our customers – 

wherever they are in the world – get great local 

support for their businesses. Sometimes we provide 

this support direct with GVR personnel and 

sometimes through our distributor partners. From 

our customers point of view I’d like to think they 

don’t see a difference between the two. 

More details on Gilbarco Veeder-Root can be 

found at www.gilbarco.eu 

19

XXX 

ALTERNATIVEFUEL NEws 

Electric cars will get more popular says Shell CEO 

Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects electricitypowered 

vehicles to account for as much as 

40 percent of the worldwide car market by 

2050, Chief Executive Peter Voser said. Voser, 

speaking at the ECO:nomics conference in 

Santa Barbara, said technological improvements 

and increases in the cost of producing 

gasoline will give a boost to vehicles that run 

on alternative power. “We think between now 

and 2050, we will go from 1 billion cars to 2 

billion cars worldwide”, he said. “We think by 

2050, roughly 40 percent of those 2 billion 

cars will be electric.” In the next 40 years, the 

market needs low-carbon fuels, more efficient 

engines and hybrid vehicles, Voser said. “I think 

there will be room and space to develop all of 

them”, he added. Gasoline demand in developed 

countries like the United States has started to 

decline, partly as vehicles running on alternative 

fuels have entered the market. Companies such 

as Shell and BP are spending more money on 

those newer technologies, including for nextgeneration 

biofuels. automakers such as Ford 

Natural Gas: An economic and environmental 

solution to meeting growing energy demand 

The development of natural gas resources from 

around the world will play an important role 

in the future global economy, Tom Walters, 

president of ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing 

Company, said last month at a plenary 

session during the CERaWeek 2010 conference 

in Houston, Texas: “We expect global energy 

demand to increase nearly 30 percent in the 

next 20 years. By 2030, global gas demand 

will be around 140 billion cubic feet per day 

higher than 2009.” Walters joined a group 

of industry leaders to address a global gas 

plenary on “The Role of Natural Gas in the 

Future Energy Mix.” He noted that despite the 

TouchStar, OrTEC and Silicon Controls 

TouchStar Technologies announce the formation 

of their co-operation with ORTEC, 

global leader in advanced resource planning, 

and leading global telemetry experts Silicon 

Controls. The three companies collaborate to 

deliver SHV Gas’s Digital logistics Initiative. 

SHV’s objectives are clear: it aims to reduce 

distribution costs by 10 percent. SHV Gas, 

which operates in 27 countries worldwide, 

Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co ltd are racing 

to launch electric cars, betting these will be the 

environmentally friendly transportation of the 

future. Small players like Tesla Motors already 

sell electric vehicles. Voser said Shell was investing 

25 percent of its research and development 

budget into renewables, including wind power 

and biofuels. Shell has bet big on ethanol by 

striking a deal with Brazil’s Cosan to create 

a US $ 21 billion a year ethanol joint venture. 

The 50 – 50 joint venture, with almost 4 500 

filling stations nationwide, will better position 

Cosan and Shell to compete with the two top 

players in the market, state oil giant Petrobras 

and Ipiranga, a unit of Brazil’s Grupo Ultra. 

effects of the recent economic downturn, the 

long-term outlook for natural gas is positive. 

The major driver of this demand is power generation, 

which will account for more than half 

of the gas demand growth, Walters said. He 

also emphasized the environmental benefits 

of natural gas as a source of power generation. 

“Natural gas is a cleaner burning source of 

fuel and power generation that over the next 

20 years will continue to form an increasingly 

important role in the global energy mix. This 

can be attributed to its advantages of lower 

carbon emissions and greater flexibility into 

power generation.” 

distributes its products mainly to domestic and 

small businesses customers. From around 100 

warehouses across Europe, 2 000 trucks deliver 

lPG , both in bulk and contained in bottles. 

The solution will integrate TouchStar’s rugged 

TouchPC based On-Board Truck technology 

with ORTEC’s Vehicle Routing and Dispatch 

software and Silicon Controls remote tank 

monitoring system “Gaslog”. 

20 

LATEST NEwS, ALTErNATIvE EvENTS, FUEL jObS NEwS ONLINE – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

– www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

NEwS 

Gas buses for the city of 

Almaty in Kazakhstan 

The first 200 gas buses will be working in 

almaty this year. Vice akim of almaty, Erbol 

Shormanov, informed at a briefing, an agency 

reported “We plan that this year the first socalled 

municipal gas buses, about 200 units, 

will start to function in almaty”, Shormanov 

informed. He also said that several gas-filling 

stations will be constructed in the city. The 

akimat has reached an arrangement with 

KazTransGas companies. 

An oil company finally 

opts to go green 

It’s not a major company like BP, Exxon, or 

Shell, although it’s about 40 percent owned 

by the last. But Showa Shell Sekiyu, a refiner 

in Japan, may still count as the first example 

of an oil company staking its future, not just 

a tiny percentage of profits, on renewable 

energy. Showa is looking to invest about 

$1.1 billion, more than two years’ profits, in 

a solar cell factory in southern Japan, boosting 

its output tenfold to 900 megawatts. 

The investment would probably cost more, 

but the plant is one acquired from Hitachi, 

allowing Showa to re-use some technology. 

The plant will make low-efficiency thin-film 

solar panels, so Reuters is billing the move 

as competition for First Solar. Showa may 

indeed be on competing in price, but it looks 

like the company actually wants to find its 

own markets. 

SPAr AUSTrIA launches 

charging stations for 

electric bikes 

SPaR (austria) will set up free charging 

stations for e-bikes at 26 INTERSPaR and 

EUROSPaR outlets in the Styria region 

before summer 2010. INTERSPaR and 

Hervis have offered e-bikes in their ranges 

since 2009. If the pilot project turns out to 

be successful, the charging stations may be 

rolled out to around 150 further stores in 

Styria and to SPaR outlets in other regions 

of the country as well. 

SPaR (austria) is also sponsoring its employees 

with 100 euros (US $146) each when they 

decide to buy an e-bike.

“We are committed to offshore wind power be - 

cause we want to use our expertise and background 

to create value where we have a competitive 

edge”, said Margareth Øvrum during 

Statoil’s energy seminar in Bergen. Statoil’s 

executive vice president for Technology & New 

Energy held a presentation at the company’s 

energy seminar last month. “It is characteristic 

of Statoil that we use our experience and innovative 

ability to solve new challenges”, said 

Øvrum and mentioned the company’s history 

as a pioneer in developing, testing and adopting 

new technology. Statoil’s offshore expertise 

forms the foundation for the company’s commitment 

to offshore wind energy. “as a company 

we have considerable expertise which can also be 

used in the offshore wind sector”, said Øvrum. 

“This applies to everything from challenges associated 

with turbines, anchoring and modelling 

to seabed surveys.” Tough weather conditions 

require a focus on health, safety and the environment 

during the installation, operation and 

maintenance of offshore wind farms. Statoil has 

a lot of experience of building facilities and running 

marine operations in rough weather, and 

of engineering and developing complex projects. 

The company has knowledge and experience 

of how wind and weather can affect structures. 

It is also experienced in remotely controlled 

operations.“In addition we have experience of 

energy trading which makes it possible for us to 

realise the value of the wind power we generate”, 

said Øvrum at the conference. 

winds of change 

By 2020, 20 percent of the energy in the European 

Union will be renewable and wind power 

is expected to account for half of this growth. 

Offshore wind power is expected to grow by 

20 percent annually. The UK stands out as 

the most attractive market by far. The country 

has 40 percent of Europe’s wind resources and 

advantageous water depths. It also faces a big 

challenge when it comes to energy supplies and 

to meeting its commitments to renewables in 

the energy market. The UK has therefore established 

good and predictable frame conditions for 

offshore wind power. Statoil is now gradually 

building up a wind energy portfolio. “This will 

give us the opportunity to learn and develop the 

appropriate expertise, just like we have done in 

the field of oil and gas”, adds Øvrum. 

Prices must fall 

Wind energy entails a different type of risk 

management than hydrocarbons but health, 

safety and the environment are naturally in the 

spotlight. and wind energy is to a greater degree 

characterised by standard solutions and mass 

production. But to ensure profitability without 

subsidies, the technologies have to be optimised 

and improved and the costs need to be reduced. 

Eighty per cent of the costs in generating wind 

energy are associated with investments and 

that is why Statoil has a particular focus on 

development costs. “It’s particularly important 

to make lighter and larger turbines which are 

specially adapted to offshore wind”, Øvrum said. 

Such turbines will provide greater regularity. 

lower weight also makes both the turbine and 

the installation less expensive. Øvrum is also 

pleased to affirm that there will be increased 

competition among the turbine suppliers and she 

hopes to see more suppliers. Not only because 

this will strengthen competitiveness but also 

because it is important that there is sufficient 

capacity in the market. Many large wind energy 

projects are being assessed at present. “If the 

big ambitions are to be fulfilled, the industry is 

dependent on a reduction in costs”, said Øvrum. 

Below are ongoing projects which Statoil are 

heavily involved in; 

Sheringham Shoal 

» Wind farm with 88 turbines being built by 

Statoil and Statkraft off the UK east coast 

» Construction started offshore on 9 March. 

The Nordnes vessel began placing rocks at 

locations on the field, in preparation for the 

installation of the structures next month. 

Work on land began last year 

» Start-up is planned for late 2011 


wINd FArMS 

Statoil make the case for wind farms 

source: statoil image bank, www.statoil.com 

dogger bank 

» When fully developed it can be the world’s 

largest wind power development and cover 

about 10 percent of the UK’s total electricity 

demand 

» lies in deeper water and further from shore 

than existing wind parks: 125 – 195 kilometres 

from land, at depths of 18 – 63 metres 

» Surveys and planning required for the approval 

process are getting under way. The 

first investment decisions can be taken in 

2014 at the earliest 

» Statoil has been awarded wind licences 

together with Statkraft, Scottish and 

Southern Energy (SSE) and RWE npower 

Hywind 

» The world’s first full-scale, floating wind 

turbine 

» The Hywind pilot started gathering data 

off Karmøy near Stavanger last autumn 

and is now producing at full capacity. 

One million kilowatt-hours of electricity 

have already been generated 

» Hywind has attracted a lot of attention 

both in Norway and internationally. We 

have signed a letter of intent with the 

governor of Maine, USa, to examine the 

possibility for a medium-sized wind park 

there. We also have a dialogue with the 

Scottish autho rities about the opportunities 

for floating wind power in Scotland 

21

Ed PETrOFOrUM rETAIL 

PETrOFOrUM MIddLE EAST, ASIA & AFrICA 

22 

USA NEws 

QUIzNOS to expand through convenience 

store locations 

US sandwich chain Quiznos is to expand at 

convenience store and forecourt locations. 

Quiznos began opening outlets within convenience 

stores and petrol stations such as 

BP, Chevron and Circle K last year and now 

has 175. It plans to double this number next 

year and then double it again by the end of 

2012, to reach a total of approximately 700 

locations. 

It also intends to add traditional Quiznos 

outlets at the same rate. “a lot of people are 

working two jobs in this economy and are 

busier and busier, and convenience is becoming 

more and more important”, said Quiznos 

Chief Executive Rick Schaden. Quiznos 

said its convenience store locations generate 

almost double the sales per square foot of a 

traditional Quznos and should contribute a 

ExxonMobil offers US gas station locator 

download for GPS devices 

ExxonMobil have introduced a new feature 

that will allow customers to download Exxon 

and Mobil service station locations to their 

GPS devices. This feature is downloadable 

from the ExxonMobil ‘Station locator’ website 

and is compatible with the leading consumer 

GPS devices, including Garmin, TomTom and 

Magellan. The site features easy to follow 

instructions along with a video tutorial. “The 

GPS download feature provides a fast and 

convenient way for our customers to locate 

Exxon and Mobil stations”, said Ben Soraci, 

Director, U.S. Retail Sales. Other enhancements 

to the Station locator feature include a 

Spanish-language option and real-time traffic 

reports. Soraci said these enhancements build 

on improvements ExxonMobil made to its 

web-based Station locator feature in 2009. 

Shell transfers 109 Chicago 

sites to Truenorth 

Truenorth Energy, the petrol retail 50 : 50 joint 

venture between Shell Oil Products US and 

Ohio-based family business lyden, has acquired 

109 Shell-branded sites in the greater Chicago 

area from Shell. all stations will continue to 

trade under the Shell banner. Following the 

transaction, Truenorth operates or supplies 

212 sites in Ohio and south eastern Michigan. 

total of US $ 250 million in sales by the end 

of 2012. From March, these locations serve 

a breakfast menu including cinnamon rolls 

and biscuit-and-egg sandwiches. 

COUCHE-TArd expects US convenience 

store shake-out 

When fuel margins were strong, convenience 

stores were comfortable with the cash that 

they were generating with their stores, said 

Couche-Tard Financial Officer Raymond 

Paré. “What we’re seeing now is that people 

are starting to understand that this beautiful 

moment is now part of history. We’re back to a 

normal market.” He added that Couche-Tard 

needs to be a “good operator to make money” 

in today’s climate and the c-store chain will 

look for both large and small acquisition targets. 

last spring, ExxonMobil revamped its website 

to include Google mapping technology. For the 

first time, ExxonMobil customers were able 

to produce turn-by-turn driving directions to 

Exxon and Mobil stations, as well as a range 

of useful consumer services such as repair 

shops, convenience stores and aTM locations. 

This revamp more than doubled the traffic 

on ExxonMobil’s Station locator website over 

the last twelve months. Monthly views went 

from about 1 million at the time to about 

2.5 million views a month, currently. The 

Exxon and Mobil Station locator serves as 

the online face for each retail location, and 

links directly to individual station home 

pages. Customers logging onto the updated 

website can click on “Find a Station” under 

the quick links section. 

dENNy’S partnering with 

Pilot Travel Centers 

Denny’s Corporation has been chosen as the 

full service restaurant operator for Pilot Travel 

Centers (Pilot), one of the largest forecourt 

operators in the US, located across 41 states. 

Pilot is in the process of merging with Flying 

J Travel Centers. Up to 140 Flying J Travel 

Centers across North america could have their 

full service restaurants converted to Denny’s. 

LATEST USA NEwS – www.PETrOLPLAzA.COM 

Chevron streamlining 

downstream activities 

Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil 

company, which owns the Texaco filling stations 

brand put, some of its downstream operations 

up for sale, including its Pembroke refinery in 

the UK, and said it would eliminate 2 000 jobs 

this year. Chief Executive John Watson told 

reporters recently that he did not expect to 

have to close any refineries, as France’s Total 

Sa is doing in Dunkirk, France. “Our refineries 

are competitive. The issue for us has been the 

industry conditions are very difficult right now”, 

he said. The company will seek bids for some 

downstream operations in Europe, the Caribbean 

and Central america, and review operations in 

Hawaii and africa outside South africa. Chevron 

said it ultimately wants its downstream business 

to be in fewer than 40 countries, versus 

93 last year, and to own 1 900 filling stations, 

down from 3 200 in 2009. along with 1 900 jobs 

already cut, the downstream workforce will be 

reduced by a fifth by the end of 2010. 

OPw Fuel Site Controller 

now PCI compliant 

OPW Fuel Management Systems, has redesigned 

the setup and configuration control, user access 

and data access for its FSC3000 Fuel Site 

Controller product to be compliant with Visa 

U.S.a. Payment application Best Practices 

(PaBP) / Payment Card Industry Payment application 

Data Security Standard (PCI Pa-DSS) 

guidelines. The FSC3000 is the heart of several 

OPW fuel-management systems and can be 

integrated directly into the K800 Hybrid, 

FIT500 and C / OPT fuel-island terminals, 

or provided as a stand-alone controller. The 

FSC3000 stores transaction data, and driver 

and vehicle records, including fueling-restriction 

data that is critical to proper fleet management.

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.erst-technology.com 

www.eurotank.eu.com 

TM 

www.fafnir.com 

www.fibrelite.com 

www.franklinfueling.com 

www.gilbarco.eu & www.veeder.com 

www.global-msi.com 

www.graphiteuk.com 

www.hectronic.com 

www.iisltd.com 

www.istobal.com 

www.kpsystem.com 

www.kubald.com 

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46189723987381927310938709837187373781 

www.kssg.com 

www.mepsan.com.tr 

www.mueller-offenburg.de 

wEbSITES ANd LOGOS – SUPPOrTING ErPECNEwS 

www.nupigeco.com 

www.ono-oil.com 

www.opw-fce.com 

www.petrotec.eu 

protecting your liquid assets 

www.petrotechnik.com 

www.planova.com 

www.psdcodax.com 

www.ruudlighting.net & www.ruudled.net 

www.scheidt-bachmann.com 

www.secu-tech.at 

www.stc-norway.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 


23

24 

CNG 

CLEAN 

ENERGY 

LPG 

WWW.OPWGLOBAL.COM 

OPW Fueling Components EMEA • Bělohorská 39, 160 00 Prague, Czech Republic • info@opw-fce.com 

NORTH AMERICA • EUROPE • MIDDLE EAST • AFRICA • ASIA - PACIFIC • LATIN AMERICA

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