Industry Note October 2016: Lessons from the APFI Forum

TFA Project Group (TFA) recently sent two of our senior personnel in the retail fuel industry to the APFI Forum in Singapore. This event was championed within Australia by ACAPMA – the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association – and was well attended by a number of senior oil industry representatives based in Australia and South East Asia. TFA was the only company present that represented solely independent consultancy services.

One of the key directives of the forum was to inform delegates about latest developments and insights into an industry that is continually facing challenges.

TFA is committed to being at the forefront of latest industry developments in order for us to most effectively advise clients in the oil industry of current issues which may influence the outcome of a retail fuel development.

We recognise that although we are a one-stop shop development consultancy which has served the downstream oil industry for over twenty years, that understanding current trends and industry developments is an essential part of our business and can add significant value particularly at the design and approvals stage of the process.

This is achieved through innovation, targeted investment and specialising within our field of expertise.

Some of the key messages and topics to come from the forum included:

Competition in the Fuel Industry Market:

A greater focus on industry transparency and customer-driven retail needs – changing the psyche from “dirty fuel” to “convenience” and resultant changes to store layouts / range of products offered.
Visibility of petrol pricing and tracking trends in fuel pricing. With more readily available live pricing information, a greater focus on service/customer offer is being needed to attract & maintain business.

Innovation and Change:

• The market responding to the location – a notable shift into unmanned refuelling sites in regional / more remote locations (often due to employment costs and servicing of predominately diesel) to larger integrated multi-use retail sites of “urban café/supermarket” appearance on offer in built-up inner urban areas.
• Adapting to current trend of developer-driven projects – Developers are innovative, dynamic and quick to move forcing some traditional oil majors to adapt to the pace of change.

Challenges and Market Outlook:

• The challenges brought about by Stage 2 Vapour recovery (VR2) requirements, particularly in NSW, with the NSW EPA 01 January 2017 deadline for all mid-sized petrol stations (within the greater Sydney Metropolitan Area) to be compliant – some oil majors will not hit this target but are pulling out all stops to retro-fit their existing sites – often hamstrung by contractor availability.
• How Global Fuel and Energy demands will influence and affect both South East Asian and Australian fuel supply, and how alternative fuels will play a part of our future.

With the changing demands for fuel resources globally and ever growing focus on environmental protection, TFA has the experience to implement alternative fuel offers to market. We have real-world experience in LNG, CNG, Bio-Diesel, Ethanol, Hydrogen, traditional Petrol & Diesel and now Electric systems for electric vehicles that we can assist in implementing into your next retail/commercial/depot or terminal facility.

We offer Australia’s most complete and specialised range of design, engineering, project management and approval services to the downstream oil industry.

To discuss any of the above, or for a discussion on any projects you may be considering, please contact:
Sydney Office:
Craig Duffield
(02) 8814 5219

craig.duffield@tfa.com.au

Brisbane Office:
Jordan Gooch
(07) 3854 2900

jordan.gooch@tfa.com.au