Saudi Aramco, a global petroleum and natural gas company, plans to launch service stations across Saudi Arabia featuring modern and self-serve fuel pumps with option to pay by credit or debit card as well as a convenience store and restaurant.

With the creation of RetailCo, a wholly owned subsidiary established to cater to fuel retailing, “Saudi Aramco will be creating a sustainable and profitable business model for integrating across the hydrocarbon value chain,” said Ahmed A Al-Subaey, vice president of Marketing, Sales, and Supply Planning and chairman of the board of RetailCo.

“RetailCo will grow its operations in both the automotive and aviation fuel segments, offering customers enhanced services and quality products while implementing a sustainable and profitable business model that delivers a new and stable source of revenue for Saudi Aramco.

“One of the key and critical factors for success for RetailCo will be its focus on customers and not only meeting expectations, but raising expectations for what customers expect at a fuel station in the Kingdom,” said Mohammed H Al-Gahtani, RetailCo’s CEO.

“We are pursuing a total shift in paradigm in the gas station perception among the public, from what people think of gas stations now as a divergence from a main route to get convenience service to a destination of services on major highways, to work, or simply on the way back home.

“This focus on quality and customer service is what we can add to the retail business in our country, and it is the level of service that not only Saudi Aramco is pursuing, but also the Kingdom through the Saudi Vision 2030 Quality of Life Program.”

“We are pursuing a total shift in paradigm in the gas station perception among the public, from what people think of gas stations now as a divergence from a main route to get convenience service to a destination of services on major highways, to work, or simply on the way back home,” Al-Gahtani added.

 “Training is a major part of the business plan and a key to our success,” said Al-Gahtani. “We are already in touch with training centres, and we will ensure that our employees have the soft and technical skills they need, including a focus on customer satisfaction. Well-trained employees will be able to furnish our four main brand differentiators that will set Aramco stations above the competition.”

“Those include Well-being, a relaxing and refreshing experience, revitalizing the customer and the car; Pioneering, a dynamic and innovative experience, setting a path for others to follow; Mass Premium, a high-end experience made accessible to all sects of society; and blanketing all these services with the utmost in Service Excellence, setting service standards through people and technology,” he added.

Cars and planes

RetailCo’s core business and operations will be two-pronged — automotive and aviation fuel segments.

For the automotive segment, RetailCo will take a phased approach to expand its network of domestic fuel retail stations to cover the Kingdom. The flagship fuel stations will be destinations on critical intercity highways, offering a full range of services, including food, convenience store, and other amenities.

Inner city fuel stations will retain the same keen attention to cleanliness and detail, while offering a more pared down list of services. Adding new business lines that put us directly in touch with our end customers will open up new challenges, to be sure, but it will also help the company to derive the full value of each hydrocarbon molecule — from wellhead to customer, ensuring service excellence to customers along the way. – TradeArabia News Service