Joint Venture to Build 5 Gas Stations in Russia

Two Orange County companies said they have formed a joint venture to build five service stations in the Russian republic.

Southern Counties Oil Co., a petroleum distributor in Orange, and American Ecosystems, a trading firm started by Russian immigrants in Fullerton, plan to build the gas stations in St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad. The U.S. companies and their Soviet partner, St. Petersburg’s local district government, plan to start operating the gas stations by next summer.

Each station will be equipped with 20 automated pumps, and customers will be able to pay in rubles or U.S. dollars and other foreign currencies, said Frank H. Greinke Sr., chairman of Southern Counties Oil and a former mayor of Tustin. Foreign currencies would be accepted because it would make the stations more convenient for foreign tour groups and foreign businesses.

The U.S. partners will invest about $400,000 in equipment for each station, Greinke said.

In return, the local government in St. Petersburg will guarantee a 50-year lease on the properties and a fuel supply for the stations, he said.

The venture plans to set up similar operations in Kiev and Moscow by the mid-1990s, Greinke said.

Currently, the only non-Soviet service station is a joint venture between AJIP, an Italian state company, and Moscow’s city government, which operates a 16-pump station in Moscow.

St. Petersburg is a good place for the venture because it has been designated as a free-trade zone by the Russian republic, said Tony Vanatik, a Russian immigrant and president of American Ecosystems.