As Shell Exits Petrol Business in Australia, Mobil Brand Returns After 4-Year Absence
A day after speculations came out that Shell was selling its petrol retail and refining business in Australia, Business Insider reports that another oil giant brand, Mobil, is coming back to the Land Down Under after four years of absence.
ExxonMobil is bringing back to Australia the Mobil petrol brand after it sold to 7-Eleven its 295 retail service stations in 2010 after a failed deal with Caltex. Since 2012, 7-Eleven has been selling fuel ExxonMobil in Australia minus the Mobil branding.
Mobil celebrated 100 years in Australia in 1995/
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With its return, the brand would again be visible in more than 400 7-Eleven petrol stations across Australia on the east coast throughout the year. The return of the brand is part of a 10-year agreement between ExxonMobil and 7-Eleven.
ExxonMobil Australia Chairman Richard Owen said, quoted by Business Spectator, "7-Eleven is the leading Australian convenience retailer and has also established a well recognised position in the retail fuels market in Australia over the last decade."
He added that the branding deal highlight's ExxonMobil's commitment to downstream operations.
Besides Shell, Chevron is also reportedly planning to exit from the petrol retail business. Business Spectator said that Merrill Lynch is the advisor of Royal Dutch Shell on the sale of its refining and retail enterprises in Australia which could help raise for Shell $3 billion to be used for its oil and gas exploration activities in the Asia-Pacific region such as New Zealand.
The daily named three groups allegedly interested in Shell. These are U.S. private equity giant TPG, the Ontario Teachers' Pension plan and the Kuwaiti Investment Authority.
Shell said on Friday that is cannot sell the refinery but may turn it into a fuel import terminal that would supply its local marketing and distribution business.