Statoil car oils, lubricants and petrol

At its regular congress in February 2011, Statoil decided to turn its investment attention back to Russia and try to win back a share of the market. Recall that the first tentative step was already taken back in 2007-2008: trading-division representative offices and independent filling stations opened in the Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Arkhangelsk regions. Then, in 2009-2010, the goals and objectives lost their clarity and scale because of the global crisis. But time moves on, turnover recovers, and with it come ambitions, mood, plans and objectives. There is as yet no known plan to build new branded filling complexes in the Western region of the Russian Federation, but plans to develop the northern part of Central Russia have already been announced.

The company Alkars has become established as Statoil's official Moscow dealer, tasked with covering demand for the product in the Moscow, Ryazan, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Kaluga, Obninsk, Bryansk, Oryol, Vladimir and Tambov regions.

Statoil's product line has competitive advantages that, sight unseen, give it consumer appeal:

This is Scandinavian quality, European standards and a moderate price.

The concern's northern European car oils, which have passed the Russian GOST and are openly sold across Russia, number over 50 items, more than covering the quality range of consumer demand.

In our country, many other foreign brands of petroleum products are well known: Shell, Mobil, BP, Castrol, Teboil and others. The Swedish-Norwegian producer has responsibly resolved every possible question around switching from oils of other brands to Statoil, offering equivalents that, in terms of quality composition and application, are not inferior to the competition.

The product's pricing policy is moderate, with average figures no higher, and sometimes lower, than its market niche.

Alongside Statoil's development priorities in Russia, we'd like to note the commercial pressure building from the side of Gazpromneft, which has long turned its attention to producing and selling automotive lubricants through dealer networks in packaging aimed at the end consumer. It's hard to compare the potential of the two companies in this direction, but there's reason to believe both will find their place in the market niche.