Word: petrofina
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Across nine states, from Texas to Iowa, some 1,300 gas stations in the next few weeks will break out in a bright new color scheme-the shiny blue-and-white gas pumps of a bustling Belgian-born newcomer, American Petrofina. The first major foreign investor in U.S. oil since Shell, Petrofina has grown from only a plan on paper to $100 million in assets in less than two years, now feels strong enough to put its own "Fina" brand name on the gas stations it has picked...
...American Petrofina is expanding at a time when the petroleum industry is in a general slump. Says President Harry Jackson: "A great time-when everybody is down in the doldrums...
Operation in the doldrums is nothing new to Petrofina (full name: Compagnie Financiere Beige des Petroles). Says Managing Director Laurent Wolters in Brussels: "We consider that the time to buy is when things are bad, because you can get them at a reasonable price. Industry-wise, the situation is dreadful, but our situation is good." On a global level, the policy has worked well. Stripped of almost everything but its name after World War II, when the Communists nationalized its Rumanian oilfields, Petrofina swapped its license to refine in France with British Petroleum for a guaranteed supply of crude, revitalized...
...AMERICAN PETROFINA, U.S. subsidiary of Belgium's biggest oil company, is buying heavily into Southwest oil industry, will pay $34 million for Dallas' American Liberty Oil Co. Coming on top of Petrofina's recent purchase of Panhandle Oil Corp. (TIME, June 25), deal will pump American Petrofina's assets up to $90 million, including 500 retail outlets in Texas and Oklahoma...
...Pointe aux Trembles on Montreal Island last week, Petrofina opened a new $30 million refinery, designed by Belgian Engineer Baron Prosper de Haulleville. The plant will give year-round service to the company's Eastern Canada outlets. Crude oil will be carried by tanker from Petrofina wells in Kuwait, fed into a pipeline at Portland, Me., then piped more than 200 miles to Montreal so that the flow can be maintained even when the St. Lawrence River is frozen over. Later, Petrofina plans to branch out to Western Canada and eventually to have service stations from coast to coast...