Caltex

Texaco products were first sold in Australia in 1900. Texas Company Australasia Limited was incorporated in New South Wales in 1918.[3] The Caltex brand name began to be used for the first time in Australia in 1941.[4]

Caltex operated in Australia for another 54 years as Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd, during which it opened its Kurnell refinery in 1956. It also took over Golden Fleece in 1981.[5] Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd merged with its rival Ampol in May 1995 to form Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd. Caltex acquired full ownership of Australian Petroleum in 1997 and the merged company was renamed Caltex Australia Limited in 1997.[3]

Until 2015, Caltex Australia was owned 50% by Chevron, and 50% by Australian shareholders. In 2015, Chevron sold its 50 per cent stake in Caltex Australia (the deal valuing the company at AU$9.24 billion), but allowing Caltex Australia to continue using the Caltex brand. In December 2019, Caltex announced that Chevron had given notice to terminate the licence agreement for the use of the Caltex brand in Australia. Caltex Australia was renamed Ampol Limited during the annual general meeting in May 2020.[6] Under the licence agreement, Caltex Australia will have until December 2022 to complete the rebrand.[7]

In November 2019, Chevron announced it would re-enter the Australian market, having purchased Puma Energy's Australian operations.[8] The acquisition was completed in July 2020.[9] Chevron intends to revive the Caltex brand in Australia by rebranding its Puma sites, however, can only do so after the expiry of the licence to Ampol in 2022. In the meantime, Chevron has a licence agreement to continue to use the Puma brand in Australia.[10]

Caltex has been operating in New Zealand since 1936. On 1 June 2016, Chevron New Zealand, which operated the Caltex brand in New Zealand, was acquired by Z Energy Ltd. Z Energy, a New Zealand owned company, operates the Caltex network in New Zealand using the brand under licence from Chevron International. The Caltex-branded retail network is independently owned and operated, with the operators setting their own retail fuel prices.[11] There are more than 140 Caltex branded service stations and 70 truck stops around New Zealand.[12]

There are around 420 Caltex stations across Peninsular Malaysia and three 3 terminals in Pulau Indah, Prai and a joint-venture in Pasir Gudang.[13]

In 2015, Total Parco announced that it would acquire and rename Caltex petrol pumps in Pakistan by an investment between US$200 million and US$250 million .[14]

Caltex service station in Quezon City, Philippines

Caltex was established in the Philippines in 1917 when Texas Company began marketing its products in the Philippines through a local distributor, Wise and Co.[15] In 1921, Texaco (Philippines) was formally established and opened its office in Binondo, Manila.[15] Eleven years later, its Pandacan oil depot was converted into a key distribution terminal to bring products by barge to nearby provinces.[15]

They only sell two kinds of gasoline namely Caltex Platinum (Replacement of Gold) (95 octane) and Caltex Silver (91 octane) and one kind of diesel named Caltex Diesel. All these products contain Techron.[15]

Caltex had a subsidiary in India in the early 1940s through the early 1980s, however as state owned corporation Indian Oil came in to market, strategically Caltex decided to reduce its operation in India. In State of Gujarat there were 2 major dealers of Caltex, T.C. Brothers Company (Saurashtra region) & MS. N. K. Sheth Co. CEO of T.C. Brothers Co, was Mr. Tribhovandas D Parekh (also known as Mr. Pampu-sheth ) & Chairman was Mr. Cuhnilal D Parekh. T. C. Brothers company dealt in Petrolium products, service station for automobiles, paint, tiles, pipes, cements and transportation of oil, kerosene, gasoline/petrol in state of Gujarat. In 2010, Caltex started trading under the name GS Caltex.[16]

Caltex arrived in Singapore around the 1950s. There are 25 stations across the island.[17]

Chevron Oil Refinery (previously known as the Caltex Refinery) in Cape Town, South Africa

A quarter of Caltex's service stations are located in South Africa making it one of the country's top five petroleum brands. As a subsidiary of Chevron it also owns a refinery in Milnerton, north of Cape Town which has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day and produces a range of petrochemical products which include petrol, diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil and paving asphalt. The company also has a lubricants manufacturing plant and laboratory in Durban.[18]

Caltex had been criticized frequently.[19]

Some Asian operations are run by Caltex (Asia) Limited, based in Taipei.