Shells have officially left Finland

Energy company St1 is building a new large gas station in Vantaa.

It rises next to the Vantaa waste power plant, i.e. at the intersection of Porvoonväylä and Ring III. Drivers of heavy traffic are attracted as customers.

The station will have a restaurant and a variety of motive power for large cars, such as biogas in various forms and facilities for electric charging of trucks.

“This will be our biggest single investment in the gas station scene for a long time,” says the sales and network director Juha Vanninen.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March. The doors will open at the end of next year.

New the position is one of the biggest game-changers from St1 now that it shook the Shell brand off its hands.

St1 had a license to the oil giant’s brand, so it had stations under both Shell and St1 names. The license is expiring, so all stations were changed to St1.

HS reported on Monday how Finland’s last Shell stripped off its iconic clamshell logo.

In total, 630 stations changed brands in Finland, Sweden and Norway. 170 of them were in Finland.

St1 now has a total of approximately 470 stations in Finland under one logo.

About the license liberation is financially profitable for St1 and brings freedom when the licensee does not have to listen to the wishes or demands of the oil giant.

With the exception of the Vantaa station, the group does not plan to divest immediately. According to Vanninen, electric chargers and the supply of liquefied biogas (lbg) will be gradually increased.

“This is not a sprint, but a sustainable, long-term and quite capital-intensive task. It is not possible to make big changes in a quick time window.”

St1 now has seven liquefied biogas stations and 42 fast charging areas for electric cars in Finland. The company also wants to increase its stake in renewable fuels for airplanes and ships.

In Laiva-lbg, Vanninen sees the place of the game.

“There is no binding regulation for shipping yet, but if it were to be implemented, the market would open up enormously.”

In the station market shaking continental plates: Teboil is going down to its connections with Russia, and Neste completely renewed its palette With its Huili brand.

Will St1 grab the falling Teboils for themselves?

“I cannot comment on the situation of individual contract negotiations, but we do welcome Teboil dealers as well, if there are those willing to move.”

However, margins in the industry decrease when consumer sentiment is low and purchasing power is weak.

“It was first seen in the shift to fast food in food portions. There is price pressure,” says Vanninen.

According to him, the amount of refueling has also changed.

“If you used to fill up with 50 euros, now you often only fill up with 20 at a time.”