Lukoil to scale down retail acquisitions
MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - Lukoil plans to focus on optimizing its existing retail network and to scale down acquisitions in this segment in accordance with its new development strategy the Russian oil major said in materials for its AGM.
Lukoil had 6,620 filling stations, including franchisees, and 199 fuel depots with 3.13 million cubic meters of storage in 26 countries by the end of last year. It bought 21 filling stations in Russia and 12 abroad in 2009.
Lukoil retailed 14.08 million tonnes of petroleum products at owned stations, down 0.6% from 2008. Average sales per station, both owned and leased, were 7.8 tonnes per day, up from 7.3 tonnes in 2008, thanks to optimization and a reduction in the number of inefficient outlets, some of them in the United States, the company said.
Retail sales abroad fell 4.1% due to a drop in effective demand and transport services.