Total buys Shell’s retail network in Egypt

French oil giant Total SA has acquired Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s fuel retail network in Egypt to bolster its presence in the country, and in the African region as a whole.
“Through this acquisition, we reaffirm our ambition to pursue our development in Africa and in the Middle East in the retail business,” said a company spokesman, without disclosing the value of the transaction.
Total, which has a 4% market share in Egypt with 70 service stations, will become the fourth-largest fuel retailer in the country with the acquisition of 85 more outlets from Shell. It wants to own the largest oil retail network in Africa.
Prospects in the retail sector are brighter in emerging markets, than in Europe, where demand for gasoline and transport fuels is growing faster.
“The sale is consistent with Shell’s strategy to concentrate its downstream footprint on a smaller number of assets and markets,” Shell said in a statement. It cited the recent sale of some refineries in the U.K. and Germany and its refining and marketing businesses in Finland and Sweden as examples of this.
Total, which has engaged in a massive exploration effort to find new oil and gas reserves, has nevertheless reaffirmed the importance of downstream activities within its business model, even though it has idled some refineries in Europe as well.
(May 15, 2013)