The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

RUBIS will change the “look and feel” of its Bahamian service stations when it starts to eliminate the Texaco brand within weeks, telling Tribune Business its credit/debit card pump payment plan would differentiate it from the competition.

Byron Ferguson, RUBIS’ sales and marketing manager for the western Caribbean, yesterday described the next few months as “critical” for the company to establish its presence in the Bahamas via its re-branding initiative, amid an increasingly competitive retail environment.

Mr Ferguson said: “We’re looking to begin within another couple of weeks. We’re looking good, we’re excited about this re-branding. We will start with the Thompson Boulevard Station. The Texaco brand will no longer be in this market; it will be the RUBIS brand.”

He added that competition in the Bahamian petroleum retail market was heating up. The Barbados-based SOL Group, and its SOL Petroleum subsidiary, headed by businessman Sir Kyffin Simpson are poised to enter the market subject to the necessary approvals from the Christie administration on the purchase of Esso (Bahamas).

“It’s quite a competitive market,” Mr Ferguson added. “A lot of bigger legacy oil companies are getting out of the downstream businesses and are selling their assets, especially in this region, to companies that focus on the downstream business.

“RUBIS focuses on the downstream business, the actual selling of petroleum products, as opposed to ExxonMobil, which is more focused on oil drilling and exploration.

“We look forward to the competition. We’re not sure what their plans are, but our goal is to make sure and take care of our ship and deliver quality service and products to our customers.”

RUBIS entered the Bahamian market in mid-2012, after Chevron concluded the sale of its fuels marketing and aviation businesses in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos to Vitogaz, the former’s wholly-owned subsidiary.

With its takeover from Chevron, the French multinational energy company has gained ownership of 39 retail stations, eight aviation facilities, six fuel terminals and one joint operation at the Nassau airport terminal, plus 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.

“We’re changing the entire look and feel of the stations. RUBIS is a European brand, and the entire look and feel when you pull into a RUBIS station is different,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The first phase is about transitioning the entire network from Texaco to RUBIS. We have been doing a lot of training with our staff and customer service representatives in term of the RUBIS experience.The uniforms would change, so it would be a nice brighter and refreshed look for RUBIS.”

As part of its revamp, RUBIS is introducing a ‘pay at the pump’ offering. “The ‘pay at the pump’ is an innovation that’s coming to this market,” Mr Ferguson added.

“We have begun that already. We already have two sites up and running, and we’re working on a third site. The ‘pay at the pump’ offering gives persons who want to pay by debit or credit card [the ability] to pay at the pump, rather than going inside or standing in the line and slowing down the entire experience.

“We want them to be able to make a transaction at the pump, and the pump attendants will be there to assist. Those guys will still be actively involved in the dispensing of the fuel, but it just speeds up the service. We see it as unique to this market but it’s quite common outside. We see it as the wave of the future. We’re excited to be the first to introduce it.”