The purchase of Shell assets in New Zealand by local investors appears to be paying early dividends for owners Greenstone Energy Ltd.
In its latest market report, Infratil - a 50% owner of Greenstone along with the New Zealand Superannuation Fund guardians - said that during the first three months of local ownership, the focus at Greenstone Energy was on delivering smooth operational transition and integration of new members to the management team.
"Whether it was due to public support of the change of ownership, or the myriad of other factors which influence consumers in a competitive market - especially price - the period also saw Greenstone achieve absolute and market-share growth."
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said there were two likely reasons why Shell had increased its market share.
BP appeared to have suffered a belated backlash in New Zealand from the Gulf of Mexico spill.
In June, calls in New Zealand to boycott BP stations in protest over the spill had not had a noticeable impact on sales.
However, as time had gone on, and the true extent of the spill was revealed, New Zealanders had become more discerning in their choice of fuel, Mr Timms said.
The other reason for Shell increasing its market share at a time when fuel sales were dropping nationally was New Zealanders' parochial support for a New Zealand-owned company.
"The timing for Shell's owners is perfect. They are benefiting from a backlash against BP and now people are voting with their feet to support a New Zealand company."
Asked about the logic behind the super fund holding a 50% ownership share in Shell, Mr Timms said the guardians had invested before with Infratil through the Social Infrastructure Fund, but the fund was a long-term asset holder, looking for cashflows over a long period.
Shell ownership sat well in the fund's structure, he said.
Greenstone had earlier announced it might try to raise about $100 million in bonds, which would be used to repay bank debt.
In the United States, some BP petrol-station owners want to drop the BP name and return to the Amoco brand to recover business lost because of public anger over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The executive director of the BP Amoco Marketers Association, John Kleine, said his members were discussing the possibility of reverting to the Amoco brand.
BP Plc bought Amoco in 1998 and many current BP distributors used to be Amoco distributors.
"Yes, the Amoco question comes up in conversation - driven by the goal of distributors to recapture fuels leadership in terms of quality, performance and sales," he said in an email.
Mr Kleine added later in a telephone interview with Reuters that he had heard of no distributors changing the name of their operations from BP to Amoco.
"There is not rebranding to Amoco for sure, because that is a trademark name owned by BP," he said from Savannah, Georgia.
"With regard to rebranding from BP to another brand, I don't know of a move under way for that to happen."
Greenstone Energy
Greenstone owns a 17% shareholding in the New Zealand Refining Company, a network of 230 service stations and 95 truck stops, a network of fuel storage and distribution infrastructure and a 25% shareholding in Loyalty New Zealand.
