ConocoPhillips pulling gas brands out of state markets

Ran on Saturday, August 4, 2007

ConocoPhillips pulling gas brands out of state markets

By Keighla Schmidt
Leader-Telegram staff

Gas stations across Wisconsin - including several in the Chippewa Valley - are taking down their Conoco, Phillips 66 and Union 76 signs.
The company was pulling its gas brands out of parts of Wisconsin effective Friday, according to Terry Hunt, coordinator of Downstream Communications, which works for ConocoPhillips.
ConocoPhillips is leaving many states, including Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina and certain portions of Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona and Nevada, Hunt said, adding the company hopes to focus on states where it has refineries, including California, Washington, Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Louisiana.
"Our strategy is to be located in markets where we can capitalize on our efficiencies and stronger competitive positions," Hunt said.
The transition was announced to marketers at the end of January, she said.
"We're thinking in the long run it will be beneficial to be around our refineries," Hunt said.
The company is not anticipating any fiscal losses, she said.
Handy Mart, 300 Prospect St., Durand, no longer sells Conoco gasoline but for now is selling "unbranded" product, meaning it sells fuel that is not a brand, Manager Jody Olson said Friday.
Olson said he is unsure what brand of gasoline the store will buy.
"We'll have to just get our gas from another brand," he said.
The store will remain a Handy Mart, he said.
An Elk Mound Phillips 66 store changed to a BP station, an employee said Friday. A manager at the store could not be reached for comment.
Customers were given little warning. Ken Hanson of Chippewa Falls shops at what was a Phillips 66 station in Cameron. Using his Conoco credit card to fill up on a near-daily basis, he said the manager called him to let him know Friday morning his card no longer would work.
"It was a shocker," said Hanson, who works for the Eau Claire Press Co. "On our end it caused a lot of problems."
Conoco credit cards no longer will be honored at the former stations. If the card is a Conoco Mastercard, however, it still will be valid, Olson said.
Schmidt can be reached at 833-9203 or keighla.schmidt@ecpc.com.