HOUSTON (Dow Jones/AP) — Shell Oil Co. Monday said it plans to invest $500 million to convert most of its Texaco-branded gas stations to the Shell brand by June 2004, when Shell's exclusive rights to the Texaco brand expires.
Earlier Monday, ChevronTexaco Corp. said it would begin promoting the Texaco gas brand on July 1, 2004, following expiration of exclusive licensing agreements with Equilon Enterprises LLC and Motiva Enterprises LLC, which currently hold the U.S. rights to the brand.
Equilon and Motiva were joint ventures between Shell Oil and Texaco. The Federal Trade Commission ordered Texaco to sell its stake in Equilon and Motiva as a condition for the merger that created ChevronTexaco.
Shell said that among the marketers it "identified as important," 95 percent by the volume of fuel sold have already committed to Shell.
Shell said other steps in the conversion campaign include a credit card program, a new fuel roll out with $25 million in advertising and support, and a new "retail visual identity" for existing Shell stations.
Shell said it and Motiva Enterprises have exclusive rights to the Texaco brand through June 2004, meaning no one can open up a new Texaco station during the next 21 months without Shell or Motiva approval.
Houston-based Shell is a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, based in the Netherlands. ChevronTexaco is based in San Francisco.