BP Gas Turkey announced today that Russian based Oteko Group has agreed to buy its bottle, wholesale LPG, and Petgaz-branded autogas businesses.

BP is retaining its BP-branded autogas business and plans to integrate it into BP Turkey’s Fuels Value Chain, which runs the company’s fuels business including its retail sites in Turkey.

Subject to the sale are all the assets of the LPG bottles and wholesale and Petgaz branded-autogas businesses. These businesses annually supply approximately 400,000 tonnes of bottle, wholesale and autogas LPG through 500 customers and dealers. They have 117 employees and operate from various locations throughout Turkey.

The sale of the business to Oteko follows BP’s announcement in February that it intended to sell its LPG bottles and bulk businesses, as well as some of its wholesale LPG activities, in the UK, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, China, and South Africa.
Kamuran Yazganoglu, BP Gas Turkey General Manager, said: “We believe Oteko will be able to build on the portfolio and business we have developed and grow the business further in the best interests of our customers and other stakeholders.”

Tufan Erginbilgic, BP’s Chief Operating Officer for Refining and Marketing, said: “BP is committed to Turkey. It is an important country placed in a central part of the Eastern Hemisphere region. It has excellent BP fuels, lubricants and aviation businesses that are well positioned for growth and the BTC pipeline plays a key part in meeting fuel demands for the region and wider markets. The sale of the LPG business follows a strategic review of this business, and we feel that Oteko are best placed to develop the business in the future in Turkey.”

About Oteko Group
Russian-based OTEKO Group, a market leader in the transportation by rail of oil and oil products, has recently completed the construction of the Taman terminal complex on the Russian Black Sea coast, a state-of-the-art and highly-efficient terminal dedicated to the export of hydrocarbons. The terminal, which handles crude oil, fuel oil and LPG is the largest LPG export facility in the CIS.

The synergies created through this acquisition will allow OTEKO to provide the Turkish market with the most efficient supply chain for LPG, thereby delivering the most cost effective solutions to CIS producers at the most competitive prices to Turkish end-users.

The acquisition of BP’s Turkish LPG business is the first acquisition in OTEKO’s planned international expansion.