Houston Chronicle by Jordan Blum Oct. 16, 2018
Roll into your company’s parking lot in the morning, press a button on a mobile phone app and, voilá, a tanker truck of gasoline appears to fill up your car. Or, if home convenience is preferred, download another app and have your gas tank topped off in the driveway.
These services sound like work of the latest band of Silicon Valley disruptors aiming to upend a long-established industry, but they are, in fact, offered or backed by two of the largest oil companies in the world, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil. Shell, which introduced its app-based fueling service last year in the Netherlands, will soon introduce it in Houston while Exxon Mobil, in addition to providing the fuel, has invested some $4 million in the gas-up-without-leaving-home company Yoshi.
Big Oil is moving into the on-demand economy at a time when energy companies are fighting to hold onto market share as gasoline demand plateaus with the spread of hybrid, electric and other fuel-efficient vehicles. With high real estate costs and razor-thin profit margins forcing 25 percent on the nation’s gas stations out of business over the past 25 years, oil majors are seeking new models for selling their product while looking to stay ahead of the type of technological changes that have refashioned retail, taxi, hotel and other industries.
Analysts said that oil companies have little choice but to experiment with new products and business models as growing concerns about climate change and increasing pressure to shift away from fossil fuels create what are perhaps the most uncertain times in the industry’s history. It makes sense for Shell, Exxon Mobil and other oil majors to at least try out various technologies and not ignore trends that have the potential to reshape how companies and their customers do business, said Claudio Galimberti, head of demand and refining for S&P Global Platts Analytics in Houston.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Big-Oil-discovers-the-on-demand-economy-13312732.php
