18-01-02 As part of an international big-oil buyout and the demise of the Texaco brand, the yellow-and-red seashell logo of Shell Oil has come to Colorado. The state's first Shell gasoline station opens at southbound Janitell Road and South Circle Drive. Eventually all US Texaco stations will change into Shells.

The new southside Shell is a co-branding venture of local McDonald's franchisee Les Louzon and Jim Conway, an Albuquerque, NM-based independent gasoline retailer selling Shell, Texaco, Chevron and Phillips 66 brands in 31 locations in New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.
The co-branding trend is an attempt to create more one-stop shopping opportunities for busy auto-bound consumers. In this case, a single building houses the McDonald's and Shell Food Mart convenience store, with 10 high-tech gas pumps out front wired with miniature screens that broadcast the pump's payment options as well as CNN. The new Shell stations will accept Shell and Texaco credit cards. During the next two years, Texaco cardholders will receive new cards with Shell and Texaco logos.

The Shell station at Janitell and Circle is newly built. The fate of the Texaco station at the nearby Circle-I-25 junction is not yet known. It will become a competing Shell or close.
The conversion is the result of a series of oil company mergers in October. San Francisco-based Chevron acquired the New York-based Texaco to form the nation's second-largest petroleum company, following ExxonMobil. To approve the deal, the Federal Trade Commission required the proposed ChevronTexaco spin off its US Texaco assets, keeping the international business and other assets.
Shell Oil, a subsidiary of the European Shell Group -- in a joint venture with Texaco -- had first right of refusal to buy out its partner. All corporate-owned US Texaco stations will become Shell stations, and independent Texaco franchisees will have to switch to Shell or strike new franchise agreements with other oil companies.

Conway said independent franchisees like himself -- called "jobbers" in the industry -- are being courted by various gas conglomerates to join their team. The long-term effect of the petroleum shuffle should be more stable supplies, resulting in more stable prices, Conway said. He remembers hauling gas from Albuquerque last year when his Denver suppliers had run out.
"No new refineries have been built in the US in the last 25 years," he said. "I believe the elimination of duplicate overhead will allow oil companies to invest in better infrastructure."