Neste to revamp its service station network in Russia

Neste Oil Corporation
Oil Retail
Press release
21 March 2011 at 2.35 pm. (EET)

Neste to revamp its service station network in Russia

Neste Oil has launched a project to revamp the appearance of its service station network in Northwest Russia and reinforce drivers' perception of Neste Oil as a quality service station provider.

The first revamped station to be completed is Neste Oil Pulkovo in St. Petersburg, which was reopened on 21 March.

The revamped appearance will consolidate the Neste Oil brand and its position as the market's quality leader. The most obvious aspect of the revamped station identity is the blue and green Neste Oil 'drop', which symbolizes the company's clean, fresh, positive, and easily approachable identity.

"Top quality, safety, and environmental responsibility are central goals for us in all aspects of our operations," according to Panu Kopra, Neste Oil's Vice President, Russian, Polish, and Baltic Operations. "Our revamped visual identity highlights our commitment to being a forward-looking oil company that believes in the importance of environmental responsibility and is open about all aspects of its operations."

Neste Oil intends revamping its entire service station network in Russia, which currently consists of 56 Neste outlets and employs some 850 people. Neste St. Petersburg is one the region's leading service station companies. The network extends from Novgorod in the south to the Russian-Finnish border in the north. The most distant station from Finland is located in Krestsy, between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The visual revamp will also support the updated store concept at Neste Oil service stations in Russia that was launched last year and which is designed to profile the company as a provider of top-quality products for quality-conscious customers.

"Neste Oil has a lead of some 20 years on its competitors and has been a quality pioneer throughout that time," says Indrek Kaju, General Manager, Russian Operations at Neste St. Petersburg. "And by quality we mean total quality, covering our day-to-day operations, our products, and our customer service. Our aim is to further develop our operations and enhance customer satisfaction levels at our outlets. Fast food, car wash services, and other non-fuel services represent an important part of our overall service concept in Russia, in addition to fuel sales."

Neste Oil opened its first service stations in the Baltic countries in the 1990s and its first station in Russia, in St. Petersburg, in 1991.

"We continued opening new stations in Russia with the old 'Neste Crystal' design until quite recently, and now it's time to switch the entire network over to Neste Oil's current corporate identity, in the same way that's been happening in Finland," says Indrek Kaju.

Neste Oil Corporation
Silja Metsola
Communications Manager, Oil Retail

Further information:
Panu Kopra, Vice President, Baltic and Russian Operations, tel. +358 (0)50 458 9444 and Indrek Kaju, General Manager, Neste St. Petersburg, tel. +7 (0)921 905 2033

Neste Oil in brief

Neste Oil Corporation is a refining and marketing company concentrating on low-emission, high-quality traffic fuels. The company is the world's leading supplier of renewable diesel. The company had net sales of EUR 11.9 billion in 2010 and employs around 5,000 people. Neste Oil's share is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki.

Neste Oil is included the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the Ethibel Pioneer Investment Register. The company has also been featured in the Global 100 list of the world's most sustainable corporations for five years in succession. Forest Footprint Disclosure (FFD) has ranked Neste Oil as the best performer in the oil & gas sector. Further information: www.nesteoil.com.

The company's Oil Retail business area has a total of 1,169 outlets, which act as a major marketing channel for Neste Oil's premium-quality products. Oil Retail is committed to achieving a leading position on its selected markets and is a major supplier of petroleum products in Finland, Northwest Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Customer satisfaction and brand studies commissioned by Neste Oil in Finland have confirmed that quality and reliability are seen as key qualities of the company's offering. Drivers describe the service at Neste Oil stations as the best in Finland. Neste Oil has over 800 statins in Finland and around 300 in the Baltic countries and Russia. Neste Oil stations were voted the best in the business in respect of their environmental awareness for the second time in 2010 in the Trusted Brands survey carried out by Reader's Digest.