Global oil company Puma Energy has completed its acquisition of BP Australia’s bitumen business, a transaction said to have made Puma one of the largest suppliers of bitumen in the country.
Under the agreement, the business will be rebranded as Puma Bitumen, with Puma assuming ownership and operation of BP’s Brisbane, Townsville, Altona and Hobart sites, as well as the bitumen business’s proprietary products and 35 employees. It was noted that all operations would continue as normal.
BP Australia will also continue to supply Puma with bitumen from its Kwinana refinery in Western Australia until the facility is replaced by Puma’s new fuel and bitumen terminal in 2017.
BP Australia first announced it had signed a sales and purchase agreement with Puma in March this year but the closing of the transaction had been subject to regulatory and other approvals.
At the time, BP Australasia president Andy Holmes said the decision to sell the bitumen operation had been strategic, allowing the company to focus on its Australian fuels business.
“We have decided that it is in the long-term interests of the bitumen business and its employees for it to be owned by another company who is better placed to invest in its future,” he explained.
Continued expansion
Commenting on the company’s further expansion into Australia, Puma Energy Australia general manager Ray Taylor said, “This acquisition gives Puma Energy a competitive edge by taking a world-renowned, quality, technically-focused business and combining it with our already sophisticated global networks, industry-leading infrastructure and supply security promise.”
He added that the company’s immediate plan was to “consolidate and then grow”.
“Long-term, we will be looking to continue expanding our footprint in the bitumen market by building new fuel and bitumen terminals, investigating future capital investment into polymer products and enhancing the Bulwer facility in Brisbane,” Taylor said.
“It’s an exciting time for our business and for the industry, and we look forward to injecting new energy into the Australian bitumen market.”
BP Australia is an oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas explorer and producer, as well as one of the country’s largest fuel suppliers. Its bitumen business specialised in the development, production and supply of bituminous binders for the Australian road maintenance and construction industry.
Singapore-based Puma Energy entered the Australian market in early 2013 with the acquisition of three major Australian companies – Neumann Petroleum, Queensland Central Combined Group and Ausfuel.
It began its Australian bitumen operation in December 2013 when it purchased Caltex’s Sydney-based bitumen business. The company is said to have a strong presence within the Brisbane, Sydney, north Queensland, Western Australian and Tasmanian bitumen markets.