Total explained: Its service station networks in Europe would see a drop in sales due to falling fuel sales.
(Photo: imago images/Hanno Bode)
Dusseldorf The energy company Total Energies is withdrawing from Germany as a gas station operator. The group announced this on Thursday morning. Total wants to sell its entire gas station network in Germany and the Netherlands to the Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard, which specializes in operating convenience stores. 1198 petrol stations in Germany and 392 petrol stations in the Netherlands are affected.
The reason given was that the group wanted to focus instead on the new forms of mobility – electromobility and hydrogen. Total will retain the off-site charging stations, as well as hydrogen distribution and fuel wholesale.
Filling stations in Europe have a big problem: More and more people are switching from combustion engines to electric cars. This trend is likely to accelerate further in the coming years, also as a result of political guidelines and subsidies. After all, according to the will of the EU Parliament, no new cars with combustion engines should be sold from 2035.
Electric cars also have to be charged, but this is becoming increasingly decentralized in view of the expansion of the infrastructure and the charging management of the vehicles. So stopping to refuel at the classic petrol pump is becoming obsolete.
Electric cars are “more likely to be charged at home or at work”
Total is withdrawing completely from Germany and the Netherlands as a petrol station operator. According to the group, Total is not a market leader in either country.
In Belgium and Luxembourg, on the other hand, the company wants to remain in the petrol station business for the time being: Here it is founding a joint venture with Couche-Tard, in which Total holds a minority stake of 40 percent. This joint venture will continue to operate the gas stations in both countries, because Total is the market leader here. However, it is only a total of 619 gas stations.
The French group is thus separating itself from the majority of its gas stations. In Germany, Total is the third-largest operator of gas stations: According to figures from the Energy Information Service (EID) from last June, only Aral with 2,297 gas stations and Shell with 1,958 gas stations were ahead of Total (then 1,157 gas stations).
Total explains its withdrawal as follows: Its service station networks in Europe would see a drop in sales due to falling fuel sales. By partnering with Couche-Tard, Total says it wants to “accelerate the transformation of its networks while maximizing non-fuel sales.”
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In principle, the profitability of filling stations does not depend significantly on whether they sell fuel or electricity. According to earlier information from the oil company BP, for example, only ten to 20 percent of the average income of an Aral filling station partner comes from fuel sales. It is much more important that many customers use the stopover at the petrol stations to quickly buy snacks, cigarettes and the like. More than half of the income from an Aral filling station comes from the shop business.
But shop visits could fall sharply as a result of the e-mobility turnaround. It is estimated that 85 percent of charging takes place at home or at work. Motorists therefore visit petrol stations less frequently. Total also said on Thursday that “electric cars are more likely to be charged at home or in the company, not at the charging stations of the gas stations”.
While the market for plug-in fully electric vehicles is growing, generating electricity with hydrogen is a niche. There were 95 hydrogen filling stations in Germany at the end of 2022, and in February 2023 not a single car with the necessary fuel cell technology was registered.
Total wants to accelerate the expansion of charging stations
However, the sale of the Total petrol station network to motorists will not be visible so quickly. Total wants to keep all gas station networks under the Total Energies brand for the time being – because the oil company will continue to supply the locations with fuel for the time being. This will be the case for at least five years, he says. The supply is ensured in particular by the company’s refineries in Antwerp, Belgium, and in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt.
In addition to the gas station networks, Total is also selling the business fuel card business to Couche-Tard. The Canadian company is paying a total of 3.1 billion euros for this. The transaction is expected to be completed this year.
According to Total, it wants to reduce its sales of petroleum products by 30 percent by 2030 in order not to sell and produce more fuel than the company produces petroleum. Total Energies has already parted with its gas station networks in Italy, Switzerland and Great Britain since 2015. In return, Total wants, among other things, to accelerate the expansion of charging stations on the main traffic arteries and in the major cities of Europe.
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