Will Become The Sole Distributer For Chevron AV Fuel In 13 States

The Hiller Group announced this week that, effective June 1, 2010, it will become Chevron's sole branded distributor of Chevron aviation fuels for general aviation in the following 13 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. 

Hiller/Air Petro will market under the Chevron and Texaco brands in these states. The company will also continue to offer its other marketing and branding options in other regions of the U.S., such as the Phillips 66 brand in the Midwest.

"We are excited by our new marketing responsibilities and the range of services we will offer new and existing customers, helping them grow their business," said Hiller Group CEO Martin Hiller. "Our refinery and terminal network provides customers long-term reliable supply of aviation gasoline and jet fuel. One of our core beliefs is the power of P3 - where quality people, quality products, and quality processes create real value."

The Hiller Group purchased Air Petro Corporation in March, with the acquisition finalized May 1, At the time, Marty Hiller, Hiller Group CEO & President, said "We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Air Petro's owners, the Ulberg family, and have a tremendous amount of respect for their accomplishments. Key management will remain in place to assure Air Petro's customers ongoing high service standards. We look forward to working with the Air Petro customers to help them grow their business by working with our quality people, processes, and products. The growth of our marketing area further enables us to strengthen our customer programs nationwide. This combined entity will provide aviation solutions to almost 600 customers."

But as ANN reported earlier this week, Chevron General Aviation General Manager Keith Sawyer said "General Aviation will withdraw from marketing Chevron- and Texaco-branded aviation fuels in 27 states (approximately 200 locations). These states are beyond the distributive reach of Chevron’s refinery system. The planned market withdrawal will be completed by November 15, 2010. Chevron states specifically that, "These actions have no impact on product supply. Aviation customers should not experience any impact as a result of this transition."

However, the move is causing concern among some in the aviation community that avgas could become scarce, and expensive. One analyst suggests that "$8-$9 gallon fuel prices are not out of the question if this supply and pricing pressure persists and other sources of supply are not made available." Other analysts insist that the future of GA fuel supplies rests on the development and certification of alternate fuels that can be run without extensive modification to the current GA fleet... and that several programs do exist to meet that spec IF the industry and regulatory entities step up to see these programs through to commercial reality and availability.

FMI: www.hillergroup.com, www.airpetro.com