Caltex
Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation used in more than 60 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, and southern Africa.
Contents
History
Caltex began in 1936 as the California Texas Oil Company, a joint venture between the Texas Company (later named Texaco) and Standard Oil of California (later named Chevron) to market oil from newly gained concessions in Saudi Arabia. It was renamed Caltex Petroleum Corporation in 1968. The two parent companies merged in 2001 to form ChevronTexaco (renamed Chevron in 2005) and Caltex remains one of its major international brand names.
Australia
Caltex Australia (ASX: CTX) is 50% owned by Chevron, and 50% by Australian shareholders.
Julian Segal has been the Chief Executive Officer CEO of Caltex Australia since July 2009.[1]
The all-Australian oil importer Ampol was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in the late 1940s. Both Caltex and Ampol opened refineries in the 1950s and 1960s, Caltex in Sydney and Ampol in Brisbane, and they competed fiercely in the service station arena and oil product marketing generally. As the industry started to rationalise, Ampol acquired Total. In 1981 Caltex acquired Golden Fleece, and in 1995 merged with Ampol with most Ampol service stations progressively rebranded as Caltex.[2]
Prior to their 1995 merger, Caltex and Ampol were relatively small. The merger propelled the company to be the largest refiner-marketer in Australia, with debt at the time of the merger of approximately $1.4 billion. Since then, the Caltex brand has mostly replaced the Ampol brand.
Caltex is an Australian company - through its listing on the ASX; through its Sydney-based head office and management team; through its 4,000 employees working all around Australia and through its many Australian shareholders. Caltex Australia operates independently, with all decisions made by the management and the Board in Australia. This is what sets Caltex apart from other refiner-marketers in Australia.
When the American military provisioning organisation moved into Australia in 1942 during the Second World War, they had prohibitions against contracting for petroleum and other services from foreign companies, but had to have at least two tenders for any contract. Because Mobil was the only American petroleum company operating in Australasia at that time, there was an issue that was only resolved when the United States Department of War convinced Standard Oil of California and Texaco to set up a joint venture in Australia and New Zealand.[citation needed]
On 27 May 2009 Caltex announced a proposal to acquire 302 Mobil and Mobil Quix service stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, subject to approval of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. [3] The ACCC subsequently opposed the takeover on the grounds that the acquisition could result in diminished competition. Caltex subsequently abandoned the acquisition, with Mobil entering into an agreement to sell the same sites to 7-Eleven Australia.[4]
Caltex operates the largest oil company retail network in Australia, however the supermarkets Woolworths and Coles have a larger market share than any of the oil companies operating in Australia.
Fuels
Petrol
- Regular Unleaded (91 octane unleaded petrol)
- Bio E10 Unleaded (unleaded petrol with up to 10% ethanol)
- Bio E-Flex (unleaded petrol with up to 85% ethanol)
- Vortex 95 (95 octane premium unleaded petrol)
- Vortex 98 (98 octane premium unleaded petrol)
Most sites stock all of these products, however Bio E10 Unleaded is the least common and Regular Unleaded the most common. Bio E-Flex is stocked in approximately 30 sites on the eastern seaboard.
Diesel
- Diesel
- New Generation Diesel (up to 3% biodiesel)
- Vortex Diesel (premium diesel)
Each site only sells one of these 3 products.
Autogas
Autogas is available at selected sites.
Lubricants and motor oil
Caltex sells Delo, Havoline, and Revtex brands of motor oil.
Convenience stores
Caltex branded sites can have any of the following types of convenience stores.
Star Mart: A large store containing a bakery, coffee and hot food as well as convenience items and an ATM. Toilets are usually located inside. Usually open 24 hours.
Star Shop: A smaller store with just convenience items and packaged foods and limited operating hours.
Woolworths: Sites that accept the 4 cpl discount offer from Woolworths. Shops are branded as Woolworths. Most are the same as a Star Mart, but some are the size of a Star Shop.
Woolworths joint venture
In 2003 Caltex Australia entered into a joint venture agreement with large supermarket retailer Woolworths Limited,[5] to counter the launch of a similar fuel discount offer launched by rival Coles Group. Woolworths' existing "Plus Petrol" service stations received Caltex branding and, similarly, Caltex service stations received Woolworths branding—the joint venture outlets became Caltex Woolworths. However this was the case only with certain Caltex service stations close to Woolworths supermarkets and many remain unassociated with the fuel discount offer. In Victoria, Woolworths Supermarkets are known as Safeway and Caltex Woolworths trades under the Caltex Safeway brand.
References
- ↑ AFX-News: Caltex Australia poaches Incitec Pivot CEO
- ↑ "Historical milestones". Caltex. http://www.caltex.com.au/about_his.asp.
- ↑ The Australian
- ↑ "Julian Segal says Caltex to maintain strategy". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/julian-segal-says-caltex-to-maintain-strategy-as-accc-opposes-mobil-bid/story-e6frg9h6-1225806209943.2009-02-12
- ↑ "Woolworths and Caltex Work Together in Petrol" (Press release). Woolworths Limited, Caltex Australia Limited. 2003-08-21. http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/resources/21-08-2003_a.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
External links
