STAR-BULLETIN / 2001 Chevron's stations, except nine company-run locations, are for sale to the dealers who operate them.

Chevron puts 61
Hawaii stations
up for sale

The current dealers can negotiate
to own the locations they run

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Chevron is seeking to exit the business of owning its gasoline dealerships in Hawaii, and is offering all 61 stations for sale to the dealers that run them, the company said yesterday.

The company said the move is part of a companywide shift that improves Chevron's economic efficiency, frees it from being a landlord, and allows experienced dealers more control over the business.

The sales depend on the results of individual negotiations.

Chevron is cleaning up its real estate holdings in Hawaii. In recent months, the company has closed four stations in Hawaii that were on leasehold land. Three stations were on Oahu, and one was on the Big Island.

The stations were not selling enough gasoline and it was getting difficult to get a good rent from the individual landowners when the leases came up, Chevron spokesman Albert Chee said. Also, the company did not want to sign long-term leases with the gasoline price-cap law threatening to take effect in 2004.

The move to sell all dealer stations, announced to Chevron dealers a week ago, does not affect the nine stations in the state that Chevron runs itself, Chee said.

Chevron, one of the state's two refiners, will continue to supply the dealers with gasoline. If the individuals dealers don't buy their stations, Chevron would continue to run the properties as usual, Chee said.

"There's no stations imminent of closing," he said. "This is all purely voluntary."