Spotlight 27
Callow Oils teams up with Pensons restaurant to deliver three-course meals to NHS key workers.
Helen Needham, director of Callow Oils, said: “I saw that Pensons were providing prepared meals to nominated key workers through social media and, as we are already connected with the restaurant as their fuel supplier, wondered if we could collaborate to deliver meals to nearby hospitals.”
“Delighted with the collaboration, and with us providing our LPG van as transport, we were able to deliver 100 prepared meals to the hard-working NHS staff at Worcester Hospital.”
With donations of cream and lamb from Mawley Milk and Hodgehill, the Michelin star three course meals were delivered to staff at the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in April.
As well as providing meals, Callow Oils has also offered its thanks to all NHS staff and key workers in the form of rainbow signage on two of its tankers.
Helen commented, “we use a local company for our sign writing and asked if they could provide us with rainbow thank you messages for our tankers, which they did. We were happy to support a local business and are overjoyed with how they look!”
As the collaboration continues, Pensons restaurant carries on preparing meals for nominated key workers and NHS staff whilst Callow Oils continues to deliver fuel oil to grateful customers.
Valero is donating additional funding to support frontline charities during the current Covid-19 outbreak as part of its commitment to support the communities in which it works. The company will provide an amount of free Texaco fuel and financial assistance to FareShare, Age UK, The Trussell Trust and the East End Emergency Fund.
In addition to this direct support, Valero is also providing a financial incentive to encourage members of its Texaco Star Rewards loyalty programme to donate their Points in support of these charities.
A spokesperson for Valero explained; “Star Rewards members will be able to donate their loyalty Points to any of the four charities, with Valero pledging to match their donation. A member donating 250 Points will see Valero will doubling this to 500 Points which is worth £5. Similarly, a 500 Point donation will be doubled to 1,000 Points worth £10 and a 1,000 Point donation will be increased to 2,000 Points equivalent to £20. “
The four frontline charities benefiting from this support are:
FareShare is a UK-wide network of charitable food re-distributors, made up of 17 independent organisations. Together they take good quality surplus food from right across the food industry and get it to almost 11,000 frontline charities and community groups.
Age UK is the country’s leading charity for older people, providing vital services for those who have no one to turn to. They are in urgent need of funding to keep their vital national and local services open during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Trussell Trust has over 1,200 food bank centres in the UK and Northern Ireland that provide emergency support to those in crisis.
The East End Emergency Fund has been set up by The East End Community Foundation (EECF) in order to support the most needy and vulnerable in London’s poorest borough.
As well as the broader Valero response, the company’s refinery at Pembroke, Wales, is also giving funding to support activities in their local community, including PPE to local clinics.
Getting on top of the industry’s stories, Jane has travelled extensively across the UK and Ireland in search of interesting industry news and hot topics
After 21 years working on Fuel Oil News and having produced over 250 quality issues, Jane Raphael will be leaving her role as editor at Ashley & Dumville Publishing at the end of March where she has also been the editor of Oil Installer, another A&D publication, for 12 years.
Jane has been the face and heart of Fuel Oil News for half of the publication’s 42 years in existence and Nick Smith, managing director of A&D publishing commented:
“James Smith, the founder of Fuel Oil News, always expressed how lucky he felt to have Jane as editor. I too, have a huge amount of appreciation for the commitment she has given to A&D and the passion she has shown for telling the story of the fuel distribution business.”
Jane commented:
“It has been an interesting 21 years. Oil is a global product, one which touches everyday life for almost everyone on the planet, and there’s always a story to tell. It has been an absolute privilege to meet so many interesting people who work in this fascinating industry, to build relationships and to share their news with Fuel Oil News readers.”
Jane will continue in a consultancy role with us until early July and will also be attending the UKIFDA EXPO in Liverpool in June where, she says: “I will look forward very much to seeing many familiar industry faces.”
From April 1st communications should be directed to Margaret Major, publisher/managing editor. margaret@fueloilnews.co.uk and Stephanie Samuel, content editor stephanie@fueloilnews.co.uk
As part of its long-term strategy to grow its company-owned portfolio alongside the continued expansion of its dealer network, JET Retail UK has made further acquisitions
Following an extensive review of Mabanaft’s UK-based companies – Mabanaft Limited, BWOC and Thomas Silvey – the latter is now focusing on fleet solutions. This change sees the Mabanaft OnRoute fuel card division being merged into the existing Silvey Fleet business.
This week Essar Oil UK confirmed the appointment of Mark Wilson as chief executive officer (CEO). He will be based at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex and succeeds S. Thangapandian, who informed the board of his intention to return to India after almost three years in the UK.
Harvest Energy, a member of the Prax Group of companies, has opened a new Morrisons Daily Store at its Sandringham service station in Leicester. Having bought this site along with 62 others just over a year ago, the company plans to convert a number of its forecourt convenience stores to Morrisons Daily Stores in the coming months.
INEOS has opened a new advanced polymer pilot plant in Rosignano, Italy to not only produce new plastics from increasingly higher levels of waste plastic, but also to help replace oil and gas as a raw material.
The Bayford Group has appointed a managing director with over two decades of experience in senior positions with organisations including Marks & Spencer and Topshop.
JET Retail UK – a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Phillips 66 Limited – has acquired Harrogate Investments Limited and its operating company, Kenworth Limited, from owner Barry Raw.
On 18th December 2019 Craggs Environmental, one of the UK’s leading fuel and tank infrastructure servicing companies, acquired the LCM Environmental business and combined the two companies to double their size, coverage and operational capacity.
With the opening of its new €3million flagship Parkway Service Station in Limerick City, Valero Energy (Ireland) has put down a marker to which other service station owners’ contemplating a switch to the Texaco brand might be advised to take note.
Derbyshire–based Aztec Oils recently completed the acquisition of the lubricant, pre-packaged fuel and contract packing business of Multispec Limited – formally Caldo Oils – for an undisclosed sum.
With the support of customers from numerous forecourts within Certas Energy’s Scottish company–owned network, the company has raised over £3,000 for Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children.
The Scottish Oil Club has announced a relaunch, with a new name and refreshed branding that better reflects its role as a discussion forum for professionals from across the energy sector.
On Tuesday 5th November, Adler and Allan announced the acquisition of the Fuel Facility Management (FM) division of LCM Environmental Ltd (LCM).
Top 50 Indies forecourt operator, Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase the south-west of England forecourt operator, Symonds Retail Limited.
The transaction is scheduled to close early November 2019.
“We are particularly delighted with this transaction because in addition to their existing 10 operating stations we also have three ‘new to industry sites’ in the acquisition package,” commented Jeremy Clarke, chief operating officer at MFG.
“Within the existing 10 stations, there are six BP branded, three Shell and one Texaco. The retail offer is split between Londis and Budgens with one station offering Subway and another one offering Greggs.
“We intend to open the three ‘new to industry’ stations in 2020, all with an excellent retail and ‘food to go’ offer and with the important addition of a dedicated high power EV charging hub.”
This acquisition will bring the total number of stations operated by MFG to 904, maintaining their position as the UK’s largest independent forecourt operator.
UK Fuels and the Co-op have signed an agreement that will see the Co-op filling stations added to the UK Fuels network. This will allow UK Fuels card holders to use their cards to purchase fuel at 133 Co-op sites nationwide.
Myra McPartlin, who joined Certas Energy from DCC in 2016, has been appointed to the role of regional manager in the south east of England
Gulf Retail has appointed Myra McPartlin as regional manager, south East, replacing the long-serving Steve White who has retired. Myra, who was previously area business manager in Scotland, has worked more recently in the north West.
Myra joined Certas Energy in 2016 from parent company DCC where, as part of the company’s graduate programme, she undertook a variety of roles. She is a graduate of University College, Dublin and then went on to successfully complete a Masters’ degree in business and management at Trinity College in 2014.
“In a relatively short period of time Myra has proven her retail and managerial credentials and we are delighted to promote her,” explains Craig Nugent, head of dealer sales.
“She will add further drive and enthusiasm to a highly experienced team, all committed to support our dealers and grow the Gulf network.”
“It’s a fantastic challenge and I know I have a huge responsibility at this exciting time in the development of the Gulf brand,” enthuses Myra.
“There is a great camaraderie in Certas Energy, and I shall continue to play my part as we drive the brand forward. Since joining Gulf Retail, I’ve really enjoyed my life on the road, meeting dealers and building long term and mutually beneficial partnerships and I look forward to replicating this within the south East.”
At a recently held event, Suttons customers were able to participate in a variety of workshops led by the company’s senior managers. The focus was on the organisation’s safety culture, compliance excellence and an innovative technology project with fleet telematics provider Microlise.
Inter Pipeline is exploring the potential sale of its European bulk liquid storage business, saying it is consistent with the company’s practice of making prudent, long-term portfolio management decisions.
The company says that should a sale be completed, proceeds could be used to reduce outstanding debt and finance Inter Pipeline’s capital expenditure programme, including the Heartland Petrochemical Complex.
Christian Bayle, president and CEO of Inter Pipeline, said:
“Inter Terminals is a high-quality business with outstanding management and staff. It has made an important contribution to the success and growth of Inter Pipeline over the past 14 years.
“Our decision to explore alternatives is consistent with Inter Pipeline’s practice of making prudent, long-term portfolio management decisions particularly in light of our organic growth initiatives.”
As part of a strategy to bring its group of companies together, Adler and Allan launched a new brand and logo earlier this month, with the new brand reflecting the company’s enhanced range of services and solutions.
Mabanaft has acquired Junction 29, one of the UK’s top-tier independent truckstops. Completed on 5th August, the deal marks Mabanaft’s strategic commitment to developing a network of truckstops across the country, offering drivers and companies good-value, high-quality truckstops outside of those owned by the oil companies and large group networks.
New Era is set to generate a turnover of £100 million in the next three years and expand its international footprint, after securing a £2m funding package from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking to purchase a new depot.