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US petrol stations to consider banishing BP from the pumps
The owners of BP's 11,300 US petrol stations are actively considering whether reverting to the traditional American Amoco brand might lead to a reversal in fortunes for the tarnished oil giant.
By James Quinn in New York
Published: 8:56PM BST 1 Aug 2010
Protesters in Florida make their point on a BP forecourt Photo: Getty/Alamy
As it was reported in Germany that BP was planning to sell its German forecourt business, Aral, for €2bn, the 475 distributors who control the bulk of BP's petrol stations in America, fear that sticking with the BP brand may continue to hurt their sales.
In some extreme cases sales have fallen by up to 40pc at certain stations since the rig explosion at Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20. A move back to the Amoco name would also probably end the growing instances of vandalism at BP's American petrol stations – with several in the New York area alone daubed in m&d and black paint in protest at the oil spill.
Stations as far apart as Boston in the east and Alabama in the south have been attacked. Even in London, 3,500 miles from the Gulf spill, tempers have flared, with Greenpeace last week temporarily disabling 35 of BP's 50 petrol stations in London on the same day the company's board announced that BP's managing director, Bob Dudley, will take over from the chief executive, Tony Hayward, from October 1.
John Kleine, executive director of the BP Amoco Marketers Association, which represents the US distributors, told The Sunday Telegraph that the subject is raised in the course of nearly every conversation he has with members. "They are interested in where the brand is going, and want it to be returned to its premier place," said Mr Kleine.
But he admits that many question whether a return to the Amoco brand – which BP abandoned at the forecourt shortly after merging with the US oil giant in 1998 – might encourage customers to return. "Those fires have been fuelled in the last week by a former Amoco executive [Bob Dudley] being named to assume the role of chief executive," Mr Kleine said.
He also pointed out that although Amoco's trademark blue and red torch had been largely switched for BP's yellow-and-green sunflower logo, the Amoco name lives on as BP continues to use it for its premium fuels business. Although it remains unclear whether there is enough groundswell of consensus for BP to change its brand in the US, Mr Kleine believes that the issue will be brought up at the distributor's annual meeting with the oil giant's senior management team in October.
One of the owners of the vandalised petrol stations in Bay Minette, Alabama, said that two weeks ago, when her petrol tanks were daubed with orange paint reading "No BP", she had wished that she could change the station's name immediately. "BP doesn't own this station," Savita Kakadia told local reporters. "I do. "If I had the money, I would have changed the name [of my station], but I don't have enough money."
The "Boycott BP" Facebook group alone has 843,390 members, telling those who sign up to steer clear of all BP brands until the spill is cleaned up. But according to BP spokesman Scott Dean the company "understands people's frustrations" over the spill, but "hopes that retail customers would not take them out on local business people." Asked whether a brand change might be made in the immediate future, Mr Dean replied firmly: "No, not at all."
