Island Energy Takes Ownership of Chevron Hawaii

KAPOLEI, Hawaii — Island Energy Services, a division of New York-based One Rock Capital Partners, has completed its acquisition of Chevron Corp.'s refining, distribution and retail assets in Hawaii, reported KHON2.

Existing Chevron-branded gas stations in the state will be converted to Chevron's Texaco brand over the next year.

Terms of the transaction were not released when it was announced in April, as CSNews Online previously reported.

The acquisition includes 58 convenience stores and gas stations; a refinery in Kapolei; four product distribution terminals on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii Island; and pipeline distribution systems and other downstream assets.

Customers will continue to receive fuel discounts through the Safeway Reward Points and Chevron credit card programs.

Island Energy will operate from headquarters in Kapolei and be managed locally, with 99 percent of Chevron's Hawaii-based employees remaining with the company, according to the report. It is also hiring new employees and plans to expand statewide.

"Chevron being bought out has a lot of potential for the consumers in Hawaii because we don't have a major player in the market and we have a lot of smaller players," said Frank Young, a former Chevron dealer and former chair of the Petroleum Advisory Council. "It heightens competition between the players, whereas when you had a major player, then you had a dominant player that could actually control the market."

He added: "Even like now, with less players, or more smaller players, you're seeing a lot of fluctuation in prices, and that's good. In the past, Hawaii had a reputation of prices going up, but never going back down. Nowadays, you see prices going up seven, eight cents overnight, but then you see them go down seven or eight cents overnight again, which is a good thing. That's how a market is supposed to react."