Chevron to Market Texaco Brand

ChevronTexaco Corp., reclaiming one of the oil industry’s best-known brand names, plans to start selling Texaco gasoline at its retail stations in two years, it said Monday.

ChevronTexaco, the No. 2 U.S. oil company, will begin marketing the Texaco brand and its star logo throughout the United States on July 1, 2004, when two exclusive licensing agreements expire.

Rights to the Texaco banner-- made famous in advertisements that claimed you could trust your car to the man who wears a star-- currently are held by a partnership of Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Saudi Refining Inc.

ChevronTexaco gave up exclusive rights to the banner in the United States when Texaco sold its interest in two oil refining ventures to Shell and Saudi Refining in a $3.86-billion deal. That deal helped clear the way for Chevron’s purchase last year of Texaco.

Shell and Saudi Refining will hold exclusive rights on the brand until July 1, 2004, and nonexclusive rights until June 30, 2006. Shell previously has said it will spend $500 million to stamp its brand on thousands of gasoline stations it bought from ChevronTexaco.

Shell will put its brand on roughly 90% of the 13,000 Texaco stations it acquired as part of the deal, while about 10% will be closed, it has said.

ChevronTexaco did not disclose details of its rebranding plans, but said it has notified antitrust regulators of its decision to start marketing Texaco gasoline.

“Chevron and Texaco are both premium quality brands, and together will position our company as a premier marketer of gasoline and lubricant products in the United States,” Dave Reeves, ChevronTexaco’s president of North American products, said.

ChevronTexaco now markets the star brand in Europe, West Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.