The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

RUBIS'S western Caribbean general manager said yesterday that company's immediate focus was to regain its commercial fuels and aviation business, telling Tribune Business that the company was also seeking to become more effective in the administration of maintenance in its retail operations.

Last month Chevron concluded the sale of its fuels marketing and aviation businesses in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos to Vitogaz, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RUBIS. Stewart Gill, general manager for Rubis in the western Caribbean told Tribune Business that under its predecessor commercial fuels and aviation segments of the business had declined and Rubis was now looking to regain that business. Gill said: "There is the opportunity for growth in those segments. In the past both businesses were far more substantial. Over the years we have lost a lot of that business to competition. Our plan is to regain some of that business."

Mr Gill added: "Those two segments tend to be shorter term contracts and people can readily switch suppliers. Our immediate focus will be to try and improve those two segments."

Regarding the company's approach to the retails sector Mr Gill said that the company had developed a reputation of having a more cordial relationship with retailers. Gill said that unlike Chevron, Rubis was more decentralised in structure with less bureaucracy. "We certainly don't have the level of control Chevron had over the organisation. We can make decisions, where a retailer has a particular problem, we can extend courtesy to that retailer without having to refer the matter to 20 different stakeholders. Their governance structure was such that people had no autonomy to make decisions."

Mr Gill said that the Rubis was putting systems in place to improve maintenance of retailers' stations. "We are putting systems in place to improve on maintenance which in the past has been an issue in these markets. We are actively pursuing ways of primarily becoming more effective on the administration of maintenance. We are looking at different ways we can improve the return we get on the money we spend on maintenance and that the retailers at the same time are happy."

Mr Gill said that since entering the Bahamian marketplace the company was being approached on a daily basis by potential retailers. "Everyday we get approached by potential customers who in the past may have tried discussions or may have chosen other partners. I think through the goodwill we have started to earn ourselves with the retail group, we have started to make positive changes. There is certainly a lot of potential here," Mr Gill said.

With its takeover from Chevron, the French multinational energy company gains ownership of 39 retail stations, eight aviation facilities, six fuel terminals and one joint operation at the Nassau airport terminal, and a commercial and industrial fuels business. These assets are in addition to the previously announced sale in the Caribbean and parts of Central America to RUBIS in July 2011 that consisted of 174 service stations operating under the Texaco brand, an equity interest in an associated refinery operation, proprietary and joint-venture terminals and aviation facilities, and Chevron's commercial and industrial fuels business.