HOUSTON -- BP has officially confirmed CSP Daily News' report earlier this month that the company will be withdrawing the ampm convenience store brand from the eastern United States--including Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Orlando--by the end of 2012.
"This is a strategic decision to focus on the ampm business in the western U.S., where ampm has over 900 locations and 30-plus years of history alongside ARCO-branded fuel locations," BP spokesperson Scott Dean told CSP Daily News.
"The decision is in support of establishing a long-term ampm relationship with the buyer, Tesoro, of our Carson, Calif., refinery and associated ARCO retail network in the Southwest."
Added Dean: "BP expects ampm to remain a strong brand in the western U.S. There are over 9,500 BP-branded fuel outlets in the eastern U.S., of which approximately 200 have ampm convenience stores. We expect ARCO and ampm will continue to be strong brands with material presence."
BP will sell and exclusively license from Tesoro the ARCO retail brand rights for northern California, Oregon and Washington and continue to produce transportation fuels at its Cherry Point, Wash., refinery. BP will also retain ownership of the ampm c-store brand and franchise it to Tesoro for use in the Southwest.
"BP will continue to comply with its obligations to its dealers and franchisees in the Southwest business until an orderly transition of those obligations to the new buyer is completed," said Dean.
See Related Content below for previous CSP Daily Newscoverage of BP's withdrawal of ampm from east of the Rockies.
Houston-based BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through more than 11,000 branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. BP is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources.
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