Hugo's personal oil co.
But you can trust your car to the man who wears the (red) star.
Posted on 07/10/2005 11:45:47 PM PDT by jb6
PHILADELPHIA -- Lukoil, Russia's largest oil company, has launched a marketing offensive to put its name on gas stations across the United States and become as well-known here as it is at home.
Over the past five years, OAO Lukoil pronounced luke-oil has entered the U.S. market by acquiring about 1,300 Getty gas stations and 800 Mobil locations in the Northeast.
It is converting them to its brand and recently launched advertising to introduce itself to consumers in 13 states.
The company plans to keep acquiring assets in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of oil.
The Moscow-based conglomerate is the largest oil producer, refiner and distributor in Russia and second in the world in proven oil and natural gas reserves behind ExxonMobil.
"It is our hope that other major acquisitions will become available as the petroleum sector continues its consolidation," said Vadim Gluzman, president and chief executive of Lukoil Americas Holding Ltd., the oil giant's U.S. arm in East Meadow, N.Y.
"There are numerous opportunities to acquire new businesses in a variety of marketing channels and as a result we are more inclined to acquire existing sites than we are to construct 'new to business' units," said Gluzman. He added that the company is interested in the West Coast and other U.S. regions.
Motorists in the Northeast are increasingly seeing Lukoil's red- and-white gas stations pop up. The company is morphing its Mobil stations at a rate of about 10 a week, up to 78 by the end of June.
"They want to establish their brand name. Everyone knows BP. Why not Lukoil?" said John Connor, portfolio manager of the Third Millennium Russia Fund, where Lukoil represents one of its largest holdings.
"They have a lot of pride in getting the Russian name out and about in the world," Connor said.
That may explain why Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ribbon-cutting of a Lukoil gas station opening in Manhattan two years ago, shaking hands with employees and strolling through its Kwik Farms convenience store.
Elsewhere, Putin's government is investigating a subsidiary of Lukoil for evading $1.5 million in taxes. The company is disputing the charges, according to spokesman Dmitri Dolgov.
Lukoil's revenue went up by 53 percent to $34 billion in 2004 over the prior year and net income rose by 15 percent to $4.2 billion, thanks to a company restructuring and higher oil prices.
Lukoil has 5,000 gas stations in more than 15 countries, about half of them in the United States.
The company has interests in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Maine, Delaware, West Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maryland.
Lukoil plunged into the U.S. market with its $70 million purchase of Getty Petroleum Marketing, a marketer of gasoline and petroleum products, and the $270 million acquisition of Mobil stations from ConocoPhillips. In January, ConocoPhillips disclosed that it raised its stake in Lukoil to 10 percent from 7.6 percent.
Unlike the $18.5 billion bid by Chinese oil conglomerate CNOOC Ltd. for California oil company Unocal Corp., Lukoil's purchase didn't raise national security concerns, since it took over gas stations and not control of petroleum assets, Connor said.
$30 million ad budget
To introduce consumers to the brand, Lukoil hired Arnold Worldwide, the ad agency responsible for Volkswagen's successful "Drivers Wanted" TV commercials, to handle its $30 million marketing budget.
The ad campaign's goal is to make consumers warm up to Lukoil as an oil company, said Fran Kelly, president and chief operating officer of the Boston-based ad agency.
"There are only five or six major (gasoline) brands. I don't know if any of them is a particularly likeable brand," he said. "Lukoil has a chance to become a likeable retailer."
Realizing that most American consumers don't have any impressions about the Lukoil brand, the company decided to home in on drivers' love of their automobiles, instead of pumping up the qualities of its gasoline, as many oil companies do.
Arnold came up with what it believes is a consumer-friendly slogan for Lukoil: "We (heart) cars." Advertising proclaims that Lukoil has "car people from head to toe. The kind that drive from the garage to the mailbox."
Lukoil has dispatched interns to gas stations to talk up the company and pass out application forms for its credit card.
It also sponsors sports teams in the Philadelphia area.
All our water?? Unless you have a tank of Evian (gawd I hope not that much $$ to the French is way too much) under your house I don't think the French supply all our water (although the image of Sabine Herold showered in Evian is not a bad thought...)..
heck, the Russian Mafiya has been buying gas stations and selling "gasoline-like" products in back woods USA for 20 years.
It is indeed a New World Order
I would never be fooled into thinking any Communist country did not want to take us over from within or any Muslim county does not mean us infidels any harm.
However, all change isn't bad. We just have to get used to it and see how it shakes out.
I don't see how we can do anything about it.
ping
No wonder my water has been tasting like bog...er frog...er...
How can the gas quality suck? All gas comes out of the same pipelines into the trucks that take it to the stations.
Any differentiation in the fuels is done in the trucks. Are you saying that they don't do as much cool stuff to the gas as other people?
You've obviously never been to Russia. Sorry, but the Russians have the flat tax, a corporate tax much lower then ours, trial by jury, private property rights (something we no longer have), half the laws and regulations we are under, CHRISTIAN education in the public schools (can't even say the word Christian in ours) and a host of other things.
Furthermore, US oil companies own quite a few gas stations in Russia.
That's ok, most of your money will then go to our friends the Saudies or the Venezualans.
Do you know how many gas stations Exxon owns in Russia, Germany, Greece and most of the rest of Europe? Tons.
I remember when the roster was: Cities Service, Esso, Sinclair, Gulf, Texaco, Shell, American, and Union 76. BP was a blip on the screen, Iran was our friend, and we wouldn't have dreamed of selling our b@lls to the Chinese.
Damn.
I'm not talking about bottled water, I'm talking water utilities! That's right, when you turn on the tap, there is a good chance that it's FRENCH water coming out! Zoot alors!
Overview of Privatization of Water Utilities in the U.S.
- Historically, about half of U.S. water systems were privately owned. That number decreased after World War I due to the availability of government financing. According to the National Association of Water Companies, the proportion of water services in the United States provided by private water companies, whether measured by customers served or volume of water handled, has remained close to 15 percent since World War II.(1)
- In 1995, private- or investor-owned water supply utilities accounted for about 14 percent of total water revenues and for about 11 percent of total water system assets in the United States.(1)
- While municipal water in the United States has been traditionally viewed as a public resource, private management and ownership are on the upswing, particularly by international companies. The market is now estimated at $2.5 billion per year.(11) The French and German conglomerates have been expanding the market of water management services in the United States.(7)
Corporate Players
- The European companies that specialize in the privatization of water services have bought America’s largest private water utilities.(12) United Water Resources was purchased in 2000 by Paris-based Suez, the world’s largest water company. Vivendi, the second-largest French water giant, bought U.S. Filter in 1999 and became a member of the powerful U.S. Coalition of Service Industries through its subsidiary, U.S. Filter. On January 10, 2003, RWE, a German utility conglomerate, purchased American Water Works, which serves 15 million people in 27 states and three Canadian provinces and is the largest publicly-traded water company in the United States.(7)
- European-based utility giants have been bidding aggressively for new contracts to run American water systems. American Water Works, bought by RWE, now controls Illinois-American Water Co. U.S. Filter, owned by Vivendi, treats sewage for Oklahoma City and New Orleans, supplies drinking water to Tampa and Indianapolis, and recycles Honolulu’s wastewater. Suez treats sewage for Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Springfield, Massachusetts, and supplies drinking water for Pittsburgh, Hoboken, New Jersey, and Plainfield, Indiana, through its United Water subsidiary.(6)
- Private water companies are pushing for legislation to require cash-poor municipal governments to consider privatizing their waterworks in exchange for federal money.(12) From 1995 through 1998, the water utility industry, its employees, and their political action committees, spent less than $500,000 on campaign contributions. But in the last two election cycles from 1999 to 2002, campaign spending more than tripled to roughly $1.5 million. More than half of the sector’s campaign spending came from two large New Jersey-based companies, United Water and American Water Works, both of which are owned by foreign private water companies.(7)
Top Corporate Players in the World Water Industry(13) Corporation American Water Subsidiary Country Base 2001 Total Revenue 2001 Total Profits 2001 Water Revenue Suez US Water LLC and United Water Resources Inc. France $ 37.2 billion $ 1.80 billion $ 8.84 billion Vivendi Universal US Filter Corp. France $ 51.7 billion -$ 1.02 billion $11.90 billion RWE American Water Works Co. Inc. Germany $ 55.5 billion $ 1.11 billion $ 2.8 billion
1 year projected
Hugo's personal oil co.
But you can trust your car to the man who wears the (red) star.
WOW!!!!! You make Russia sound like a paradise. I guess I've been fooled into thinking they were a COMMUNIST country. Sounds like they have more freedoms than us. Let's all move there and live the good life, huh?
Why, just think how close we all could become by sharing the toilet paper and splitting our dinner (a potato) with the one you love. You forgot to add that they all drive new SUV's and live in million dollar estates!
I think I get your drift, as I, too, am very disturbed about the current situation in the U.S. and property rights et.al. If I'm wrong and you think Russia IS a better place to live than here then.........when are you leaving? I'll help buy your ticket.
You forgot to add that they all drive new SUV's and live in million dollar estates!
Actually, Ford and Chrystel SUVs are popular there, as are some of the smaller domestic versions, that look like the Montero.
The nation has a 13% flat income tax, killed the sales tax, a 24% corporate rate (unless you're tech, then you're screwed, you have to pay a 14% corporate rate). They've cut their VAT and Payroll taxes and have actually cut the size of government (though they still have legions to go).
It's no paradise, but its no communist hellhole and it has nothing to do with your description of it.
Don't bother with buying my ticket, if my new job works out, in about 2 years, I'll be having my company paying for my move.
You seriously need to take a look around, past the stereotype blinders.
ping, according to panaxanax, your wife wash sharing her one roll of toilet paper with her whole family while fighting over the lone potatoe. The enlightened one knows soooo much about world economic conditions.
It's not the lack of coffee but the thought of buying Russian or Chinese gas ;-)
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