P66 to sell German, Austrian retail business: Update

Adds number of Phillips 66-owned gas stations in Germany and Austria, company response.

US refiner Phillips 66 plans to sell its gas station business in Germany and Austria as part of a broader plan to divest non-core assets, the company said in earnings released today.

The company sells to retail and wholesale customers under the JET gas station brand across 1,270 sites in Austria, Germany and the UK, according to the refiner's 2022 annual review.

JET operated 813 gas station in Germany as of June 2023, according to the country's federal association of independent petrol stations and 154 sites in Austria according to the company website.

Phillips 66 has a further 330 gas stations in Switzerland through a joint venture under the Coop brand, but those are not included in the sales effort. The refiner declined to provide details of the current number of sites for sale in Germany and Austria.

Phillips 66 has undertaken multi-year cost-cutting projects and said this year it is considering selling some of its midstream assets to satisfy a planned $3bn in divestments.

Late last year hedge fund Elliott Investment Management purchased a $1bn stake in the company, calling on it to refocus on its refining business and reduce operating costs.

In Elliott's December activist letter to the refiner, the hedge fund said if Phillips 66 failed to make sufficient progress towards its cost-cutting goals, it would push for management changes and a sale of the company's stake in Chevron Phillips Chemicals (CPChem) — valued at about $15bn-20bn after taxes by the investor — and its European convenience stores and other non-operated midstream assets.

Elliott previously targeted Canadian integrated Suncor, pushing for board changes and divestment of its 1,500 retail stores, which ultimately it did not sell. US refiner Marathon, however, agreed to sell its 3,900-store Speedway retail network in 2019 following pressure from Elliott, which had criticised its integrated downstream business model.

By Nathan Risser