NZ Petroleum Industry: Shake-Up Coming In Petrol Station Ownership
March 23rd, 2010
A shake-up in petrol station ownership in NZ may reverse the dominance in the industry of international oil giants. Wellington based Infratil in conjunction with the NZ Superannuation Fund, is in negotiations to conclude a deal with Royal Dutch Shell to buy its NZ service stations and its 17.1% stake in NZ Refining, owners of the Marsden Point oil refinery. Meanwhile Exxon-Mobil is reported to be looking at the disposal of its 183 petrol stations and a 19.2% stake in the refinery.
If both deals go through they could be worth $1bn-plus. Infratil argues benefits will accrue to “NZ Inc” and local stakeholders, including dividends from Shell and NZ Refining, which go overseas at present flowing instead to local shareholders and via the Super Fund. Shell service stations pumped almost twice the industry average of 2.7m litres a year throughout NZ, but Infratil believes retailing at the Shell chain has been a weak point. Infratil wants to upgrade this by broadening and/or deepening options. Infratil and the Super Fund are understood to have established a working capital facility as a preliminary step.
Meanwhile Chevron has indicated a shake-up of its global downstream operations is on the way with 2000 staff globally to be laid off. But a spokesperson for NZ operations says there has been no suggestion the shake-up will include any changes in this country. Chevron’s local business includes about 180 Caltex stations and a 13% stake in NZ Refining Co.
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