A new roadside retail fuel brand, which aspires to compete in the same space as Gulf, Pace and Murco, is coming to England and Wales: courting operators with a “no fuss” dealer supply arrangement.
Oilmaxx, a sister brand to fuel supplier Oilfast, will particularly appeal to smaller, rural sites where the owner is not interested in its oil provider offering promotions, or getting involved in the shop.
So says managing director Tony Stewart, who plans to go live with the first Oilmaxx branded forecourts in the next 12 months. “We’re negotiating at the moment and hoping to get one dealer over the line in the coming months,” he asserts.
“Oilmaxx will suit operators who want the reassurance that their sites will remain wet and want great service on deliveries, but who want to be left to run the rest of the business as they please. We will also do our best to offer very competitive and fair prices.”
Stewart adds: “We pride ourselves on service. We actually helped keep many Harvest dealers supplied with fuel when the Prax Lindsey oil refinery closed. We have a flexible fleet of trucks which can supply any site from articulated HGVs through to smaller sites with rigids.”
The Oilmaxx brand will be available solely for locations south of the border, and participating forecourts will largely be supplied by depots in Inmingham, Grays, and Kingsbury. Unleaded petrol and diesel will come from major suppliers including Greenergy, Phillips 66, and Essar.
As well as seeking dealers to take the new purple and green branding, it is likely that some Oilmaxx petrol stations will be company-owned. Such company-owned sites will be operated under an unmanned template introduced by Oilfast in Scotland in November 2024.
There are now two of these 24-hour Oilfast locations sporting the blue and white branding in Scotland, taking fuel from the Grangemouth distribution terminal. Oilfast has depots across Scotland including Motherwell, Forfar and Oban in the Highlands. There are plans for half a dozen Oilfast sites by next year.
An Oilfast site opened earlier this month in the village of Guildtown on the A93 from Perth to Blairgowrie. This follows Oilfast’s debut site, also on the A94, at the rural location of Balbeggie, north of Perth.
The former Gulf dealer site at Guildtown already had disused tanks in place, which have been relined. Two pay at pump Tokheim Quantium pumps for unleaded, super unleaded and diesel, have been added.
There is also an AdBlue tank and pump, supplied by Oilfast which manufactures its own AdBlue. The business also acts as a lubricant distributor for Shell and Fuchs, as well as being a fuel card reseller.
A contactless payment jet wash, and air and water machine supplied by Air-serv have also been added to the canopied Guildtown site, which is leased from a well-established service and repair business on site.
”It is a great solution for the landlord and ourselves,” says Stewart. ”We are confident it will drive more customers to his business and at Balbeggie the locals have been very enthusiastic about the service the unmanned business offers and the competitive prices we offer.”
Stewart says that the unmanned model would fit next to an EV charging or valeting hub, or generally where operators have a spare piece of unused land, subject to planning approval.
He wants dealers to get on board with both the Oilmaxx and Oilfast brands, which he believes will primarily suit forecourts that do not have large shops, or room to expand. The business is also interested in converting ex-filling stations back to selling fuel.
“We believe in the fuels sector and our growth has been marked by our customer service. We know we can offer dealers a much-needed fresh choice for supplying fuels and/or through leasing or acquiring their forecourts,” he adds.
