Caltex

Texaco products were first sold in Australia in 1900. Texas Company Australasia Limited was incorporated in New South Wales in 1918.[3] The Caltex brand name began to be used for the first time in Australia in 1941.[4]

Caltex operated in Australia for another 54 years as Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd, during which it opened its Kurnell refinery in 1956. It also took over Golden Fleece in 1981.[5] Caltex Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd merged with its rival Ampol in May 1995 to form Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd. Caltex acquired full ownership of Australian Petroleum in 1997 and the merged company was renamed Caltex Australia Limited in 1997.[3] The Ampol brand was mostly phased out while the Caltex brand was retained.

Until 2015, Caltex Australia was owned 50% by Chevron, and 50% by Australian shareholders. In 2015, Chevron sold its 50 per cent stake in Caltex Australia (the deal valuing the company at AU$9.24 billion), but allowing Caltex Australia to continue using the Caltex brand. In December 2019, Caltex announced that Chevron had given notice to terminate the licence agreement for the use of the Caltex brand in Australia. Caltex Australia was renamed Ampol during the annual general meeting in May 2020.[6] Under the licence agreement, Caltex Australia will have until December 2022 to complete the rebrand.[7]

Caltex has been operating in New Zealand since 1936. On 1 June 2016, Chevron New Zealand, which operated the Caltex brand in New Zealand, was acquired by Z Energy Ltd. Z Energy, a New Zealand owned company, operates the Caltex network in New Zealand using the brand under licence from Chevron International. The Caltex-branded retail network is independently owned and operated, with the operators setting their own retail fuel prices.[8] There are more than 140 Caltex branded service stations and 70 truck stops around New Zealand.[9]

Caltex South China Investments Limited operate over 20 stations in Guangdong through various local joint ventures. GS Caltex, from South Korea, have moved into China and operate a few oil stations in Shandong Province.

Texaco began kerosene sales in Hong Kong (and neighbouring China) in 1913 and Caltex began operating in Hong Kong in 1937 with a diesel terminal. The terminal was situated in Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. The road leading to the terminal was therefore named Texaco Road. The oil terminal was moved to Tsing Yi where it is and the land plot in Tsuen Wan was developed into a residential complex named Riviera Gardens. Caltex operates over a dozen service stations through Hong Kong Island, New Territories and Kowloon.

Caltex station seen on the side, as the Imperial Japanese Army captures Manila in WW2 (1942)

There are around 420 Caltex stations across Peninsular Malaysia and three 3 terminals in Pulau Indah, Prai and a joint-venture in Pasir Gudang.[10]

Caltex service station in Quezon City, Philippines.

Caltex was established in the Philippines in 1917 when Texas Company began marketing its products in the Philippines through a local distributor, Wise and Co.[11] In 1921, Texaco (Philippines) was formally established and opened its office in Binondo, Manila.[11] Eleven years later, its Pandacan oil depot was converted into a key distribution terminal to bring products by barge to nearby provinces.[11] Caltex celebrated its 75th anniversary in July 2011. They only sell two kinds of gasoline namely Caltex Platinum (Replacement of Gold) (95 octane) and Caltex Silver (91 octane) and one kind of diesel named Caltex Diesel. All these products contain Techron.[11]

Caltex had a subsidiary in India in the early 1940s through the early 1980s, however as state owned corporation Indian Oil came in to market, strategically Caltex decided to reduce its operation in India. In State of Gujarat there were 2 major dealers of Caltex, T.C. Brothers Company (Sauratra region) & MS. N. K. Sheth Co. CEO of T.C. Brothers Co, was Mr. Tribhovandas D Parekh (also known as Mr. Pampu-sheth ) & Chairman was Mr. Cuhnilal D Parekh. T. C. Brothers company dealt in Petrolium products, service station for automobiles, paint, tiles, pipes, cements and transportation of oil, kerosene, gasoline/petrol in state of Gujarat. In 2010, Caltex started trading under the name GS Caltex.[12]

Caltex arrived in Singapore around the 1950s. There are 25 stations across the island.[13]

Chevron Oil Refinery (previously known as the Caltex Refinery) in Cape Town, South Africa

A quarter of Caltex's service stations are located in South Africa making it one of the country's top five petroleum brands. As a subsidiary of Chevron it also owns a refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town which has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels per day and produces a range of petrochemical products which include petrol, diesel, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, fuel oil and paving asphalt. The company also has a lubricants manufacturing plant and laboratory in Durban.[14]

Caltex had been criticized frequently[15] for its operations in South Africa during the Apartheid era.

In South Korea, Chevron has operated under the brand name GS Caltex since 1967.

Some Asian operations are run by Caltex (Asia) Limited, based in Taipei.[16] Caltex has a joint venture aviation refueling business in Taiwan airports with Formosa Plastics. It also sells a small quantity of lubricants into Taiwan market.