Conoco to Sell Gas Stations for $800M

ConocoPhillips has reveled plans to sell 600 company-owned gas stations across the nation to PetroSun West in an $800 million deal that will mark the firm’s exit from the volatile retail gas business. Houston-based Conoco operates gas stations under the Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76 brands in the West and Midwest. The firm is the latest gas company to divest itself of its service stations. With ballooning crude oil prices, profit margins have shrunk even with high prices at the pump. In June, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced plans to sell off its 2,200 stations, and BP Plc. also plans to exit the retail business by next year. Conoco, the third-largest American oil firm, will continue its gasoline production and wholesale businesses. PetroSun will convert the newly-acquired stations into more convenince- and service-oriented facilities, offering food shops, financial services and dry cleaning, according to company CEO Sam Hirbod in a report by the Wall Street Journal. Increasingly, operators are using gas sales to attract shoppers to these other, more profitable, services. The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year, according to the Journal report.