Ampol
Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company, with headquarters in Sydney, New South Wales. It was first incorporated in 1936 in New South Wales to market petrol in its chain of service stations. In 1995, Ampol merged with Caltex to form Australian Petroleum, which in 1997 became Caltex Australia. In December 2019, Chevron Corporation, owner of the Caltex trademark, gave notice to terminate the licence agreement for the use of the Caltex brand in Australia. From May 2020, the company officially rebranded as Ampol Limited along with a new logo that will be rolled out across Australia in 2020 and 2021.
History
Early history
Today's Ampol Limited traces its history back to two independent businesses that merged in 1995, Caltex Oil Pty Ltd and Ampol.Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd (1918–1995)
products were first sold in Australia in 1900. Texas Company Australasia Limited was incorporated in New South Wales in 1918. The Caltex brand name began to be used for the first time in Australia in 1941, five years after the formation of Caltex in the United States. Caltex operated in Australia as Caltex Oil Pty Ltd. It opened the Kurnell Refinery in 1956. It took over Golden Fleece in 1981.Ampol (1936–1995)
The Australian Motorists Petrol Company, simply known as Ampol, was incorporated by Sir William Gaston Walkley in 1936 in New South Wales. This was in response to Australians' concerns about perceived inequitable petrol pricing, and allegations of transfer pricing by foreign oil companies to limit their tax liabilities in Australia.Walkley, along with William O'Callaghan and George Hutchison, approached the NRMA and offered to help it form a company to market petrol. Whilst deciding not to officially sponsor an oil company, members of the NRMA's board sought investors. In early 1936, an advertisement was printed in the NRMA's periodical publicising the float of Ampol. The first delivery of oil was received at White Bay in December 1937 and, by 1939, Walkley had joined the board of Ampol as managing director.
with Ampol sign in 2007
During World War II, Walkley served on the Oil Advisory Committee and the board of Pool Petroleum Pty Ltd, both of which supervised the distribution of petrol. This brought him into contact with Sir George Wales, who owned Alba Petroleum Co. of Australia Ltd, which had a small market in South Australia and Tasmania. In 1945, Ampol purchased Alba Petroleum in an amicable takeover.
The company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1948 and, in 1949, it changed its name to Ampol Petroleum Ltd.
In 1965, Ampol's Lytton oil refinery in Brisbane, Queensland came on stream. Pioneer International purchased a 20% stake in Ampol in 1979.
In 1982, Ampol purchased the marketing and refining assets of Total Australia and changed its name to Ampol Limited. In 1988, Ampol was fully taken over by Pioneer International and delisted from the ASX the following year. The following year, Pioneer purchased Solo Oil, the largest independent retailer and distributor in Australia at that time.
Recent History
Merger between Caltex and Ampol
Prior to 1995, Caltex Oil Pty Ltd and Ampol Limited were rivals in the petroleum industry in Australia. However, the two companies were still relatively small compared to other petroleum companies. In May 1995, the two companies merged to form Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd, owned equally by Pioneer International and Caltex. At the time, the merged company held a 28% market share in the petroleum industry. After the merger, the Ampol brand remained in use for a number of years at some service stations, primarily in country areas where customer loyalty and strong brand-recognition are factors.In 1997, Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd was renamed Caltex Petroleum Australia Ltd. The following year, in 1998, Caltex acquired full ownership of the company when Pioneer sold its shareholding of its 90 million shares. From then until 2015, Caltex Australia was owned 50% by Chevron Corporation and 50% by ASX shareholders.
On 27 May 2009 Caltex Australia 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 & Consumer Commission. 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.
In 2012, Caltex Australia wanted to establish an overseas trading arm to enable the importation of petrol into Australia. As Chevron Corporation already operate the Caltex brand overseas in areas like Singapore, Caltex Australia opted to name their Singaporean business after their former Australian business, Ampol.
Until 2014, Caltex operated two petroleum refineries in Australia: one at Kurnell in Sydney, and one at Lytton in Brisbane, each inherited from Caltex and Ampol respectively. The Kurnell Refinery ceased operations in 2014, and part of the existing infrastructure such as wharfs and tanks would be converted to a fuel importation and blending terminal. The conversion was completed in May 2019.
Chevron sale
In March 2015, Chevron sold its 50% stake in Caltex Australia. However, Caltex Australia was allowed to continue to use the Caltex brand under a trade mark licence.In November 2019, Alimentation Couche-Tard proposed an offer to acquire Caltex Australia. Initially declined by the Caltex Australia board, ATD proposed an improved offer in February 2020, and the board agreed to further engage with ATD. Separately in the same month, the EG Group also proposed an offer to acquire Caltex Australia, which was declined by the Caltex Australia board. In April 2020, ATD decided not to proceed with its acquisition proposal due to the high level of economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but will seek to re-engage once there is sufficient clarity to the global economic outlook.
Rename to Ampol
In December 2019, Caltex Australia announced that Chevron had given notice to terminate the trade mark licence agreement for the use of the Caltex brand in Australia. Caltex Australia proposed to rebrand itself back as Ampol, which was approved by more than 99% of shareholders during the annual general meeting on 14 May 2020. Caltex Australia will rebrand some of its sites in Sydney and Melbourne in the second half of 2020, and nationally in 2021.The licence agreement termination followed Chevron announcing it would re-enter the Australian market, having purchased Puma Energy's Australian operations. Caltex Australia cited continued high recognition and regard for the brand, with the move is expected to save the company $20 million per year in licensing fees.
Store Formats
Ampol and Caltex branded sites can have any of the following types of convenience store formats:- Star Mart: A large store containing a bakery, coffee and hot food as well as convenience items and an ATM, with toilets usually located inside and often open 24 hours. In 2009, the New Zealand operations were sold off and rebranded as Fix stores, which in turn were rebranded as Night 'n' Day from 2017.
- Star Shop: A smaller store with just convenience items and packaged foods and limited operating hours.
- The Foodary: Large Sites containing fresh healthy food, a bakery, coffee, convenience items and an ATM. Other retailers such as Boost Juice and Guzman y Gomez are co-located on selected The Foodary sites.
- Woolworths Metro: A mini Woolworths convenience store offering a smaller range of items such as fresh food found at the major Woolworths Supermarkets, along with offering Coffee and containing a co-located Boost Juice outlet.
- Co-Branded: Ampol supplies the fuel for an external provider who operates their own store format. An example of this is EG Group via their acquisition of the former Caltex Woolworths joint-venture. These sites often display a Caltex or Ampol logo on both the Pylon Signs and Canopy with the convenience store using its own branding.
Euro Garages Australia
In April 2019, Woolworths sold all its 540 fuel stores to EG Group. As part of the sale, Woolworths fuel discount offers and collection of Woolworths Rewards points would be continued by EG Group for 15 years.
In total, all EG Australia sites, including Caltex Woolworths Metro and Caltex Woolworths sites, alongside 200 selected Star Mart, Star Shop and The Foodary branded Caltex sites accepts the four cents per litre discount petrol offer from Woolworths.
Operations
Management
Julian Segal was the CEO of Caltex Australia for almost 11 years from July 2009 until 2 March 2020. As of 2 March 2020, the interim CEO is the CFO Matthew Halliday. Halliday was appointed permanent CEO of Ampol from 29 June 2020.Oil Refineries
After the closure of Kurnell Refinery for conversion in 2014, the only Ampol oil refinery remaining in Australia is the Lytton oil refinery.Ampol Singapore
In 2012, Caltex Australia wanted to establish an overseas trading arm to enable the importation of gasoline into Australia. This was largely due to the decision to close Kurnell Refinery. As Chevron Corporation already operate the Caltex brand overseas in areas like Singapore, Caltex Australia opted to name their Singaporean business after their former Australian business, Ampol. It commenced trading in October 2013, and the Kurnell Refinery closed in 2014.SEAOIL Phillipines
In December 2017, Caltex Australia entered a strategic partnership with SEAOIL, the leading independent fuel company in the Philippines. As part of the partnership, Caltex Australia would supply oil to SEAOIL via Ampol Singapore, while Caltex Australia would take up a 20% equity interest in SEAOIL. The acquisition of the 20% equity interest was completed in March 2018.Gull New Zealand
In July 2017, Caltex Australia acquired Gull New Zealand for NZ$340 million. In the year 2018, Gull contributed to Caltex Australia's 39% increase in international fuel sales volumes to 3.5 billion litres.Sponsorship
Professional Tennis
In the late 1950's, Ampol sponsored professional tennis events.The Ampol Tournament of Champions was held at White City stadium in Sydney in 1957, at Kooyong stadium in Melbourne in 1958, and at White City stadium in Sydney in 1959.
In 1959/1960, the Ampol Open Trophy and bonus prize was presented to the winner of a 15-tournament professional world series of tennis tournaments, presented at Kooyong stadium on January 2, 1960.