Hi GiovanniI don't hold but like you, looking at it with...

Hi Giovanni

I don't hold but like you, looking at it with interest.

I know the Lytton refinery reasonably well from a technical operation point of view. Also the old NZ Refining company asset at Marsden Point and the downstream product pipeline to Auckland. At one time or another I dealt with all of the Refineries and many of the downstream pipeines and terminals in ANZ, apart from IOR.I

n direct marketing Ampol has a vast number of retail sites in the areas I have travelled in past 3 months of a road trip through Vic, SA, NSW, QLD. The Ampol pump prices seem to be the highest, and I assume that because of the loyalty and corporate card business, with a good number of associated restaurants, they can enjoy premium pricing vs the competition independents like United and indeed IOR.Being a shareholder I look well upon this sort of pricing power, and if any petroleum retailer has it is probably most so with Ampol.

Being a retail customer of course its a different story and I have gotten to like IOR's no-frills self-serve model which even includes showers and toilets in a case I saw in Central Queensland this week. IOR, with 1200 BPD Refinery at Eromanga in Western Queensland seem to be making a strong push into agriculture sector, with on-farm delivery etc, but I could not guess the level of threat this poses volume and price-wise to Ampol, with its 20x refining capacity and virtually unlimited access to millions of barrels per day from Asian refineries;

I note IOR has provided an independent test report showing that at 100% power there is a ~50% reduction in particulate emissions from their UMF grade (Underground Mining Fuel). I am not a fan of EV's but on occasional visits to inner urban areas I admit to being conscious of the health impacts of Particulate matter, and also am aware of the ongoing challenges of Diesel Particulate Filters on more recently manufactured diesel engines than my 2004 Isuzu. I and others have had to wait while the engine goes throough its automatic DPF cleaning cycle, such as when I was driving an Isuzu 8tonne truck a few years ago. I note that there is about a 5% lower power output at 100% power reported in the test results, for the UMF fuel.

With VIVA there is a nice duopoly in existence now, and it will be fascinating to watch what unfolds. I don't like the foreign ownership stake in VIVA Australia, as it lacks transparency and profits may be diverted through financing and other fees to the Swiss parent rather than available to pay dividends to shareholders.

From my point of view, there is not a whole lot of difference between Australia's dependence on imported crude oil vs imported refined product.Of course it is nostalgic to see those distillers, sulphur reduction units, crackers and reformers running hard. Without a buoyant petrochemicals market it is hard for our refineries to be as profitable as the mega plants built in India, Singapore, China etc over past 50y, so I don't protest that the taxpayers kick in a little bit to keep them open.

LPG distribution seems to be drying up as the tax on LPG now reduces demand, despite that it is a low emissions fuel it doesn't have the cache of an EV or Hybrid, at the golf club or wherever their owners drive them..I like the innovation displayed by Ampol in its offering of other services, including electricity and probably internet to its loyalty customers, trialled through a pilot program, involving its own staff.

I saw a bit of competition from the re-emergence of the Caltex brand at a servo in Vic. I don't know the ins and outs of that, but assume somebody sees value in having a familiar brand on their site, rather than something obscure.

I take pleasure that I rarely have to wait for a pump, and find good clean fuel readily available in a vast number of remote locations, with nary a hint of taxapayer subsidy that we see going into charging stations and Renewable Energy facilities.

Might see you at the Ampol AGM!