Flexing Havoline's Muscle

“We believe in a free market and competition. We also believe in delivering at competitive  prices.” Ricardo Milford, area manager, Eastern Caribbean was summing up Chevron Texaco’s position regarding the liberalisation of the this country’s fuel delivery market. The local market is currently carved up between Unified Petroleum Dealers of TT (Unipet) and National Petroleum (NP). “Anytime the market is open we are ready,” he said in an interview at Chevron Texaco’s head office at Maple House in St Clair, Port-of-Spain, last week. He said while Chevron Texaco would like to see the market opened up, the TT government was the one to set the policies to control the market. The global energy company last week celebrated its 100th anniversary of the production of Havoline oil, a brand that has been competing with Castrol, Shell and NP for the market. It’s been an uphill climb. 

According to Anibal Ruiz, lubricant business coordinator for the Caribbean region, xdespite the competition, Chevron Texaco still had a presence in the market. But with oil prices at an all time high, he noted that lubricant oil also went up in their global markets. “High oil prices are good for the upstream but not for the downstream,” Ruiz said. He said their figures showed that the company had 15 percent share of the market, noting that this was considered pretty good since their advertising has not been as robust as the other brands. Outside Trinidad and Tobago, Chevron Texaco’s  brand is number one in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ruiz pointed out. Chevron Texaco has an arrangement with NP whereby Havoline is blended to certain specifications. Milford noted that NP has been doing a very good job in getting the formula right.

Milford described the relationship with NP as a “win-win” situation. “We have had no problems,” Milford said.   The Havoline brand of oil is distributed exclusively by Ramco Industries. Company chairman Razal Azard Rahaman told guests attending the Havoline celebration at the Hilton last week that with the right push, the Havoline brand can make inroads into the market. Whatever “blueprints” are drawn for Havoline’s future, the Rahamut  Group will continue to work with Chevron Texaco, he said. Ruiz said the philosophy of going to market has changed. Three years ago, the company created a separate lubricants business unit, the same time the Chevron Texaco merger was approved, to give it that competitive edge.

The global company is the third biggest energy company in the world, after Shell and Exxon Mobil. In the coming months, Chevron Texaco will try to raise its market profile by pumping more money into advertising. “We need some brand enhancement if we are to recapture some of the market,” said Milford. It will also help if the company let people know that Chevron Texaco is still around. There was the perception that the company had left the country altogether. The global company has an offshore presence on the East and North West coasts, drilling for oil and gas. (With reporting by Ralph Banwarie)