OREANDA-NEWS. January 26, 2012. JSOC Bashneft has purchased a 100 percent interest in the SKON Group, owner of an oil depot and a chain of 25 filling stations in Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Oblast. The stations work under the ERGO brand.

SKON Group is the third largest operator in the automotive fuel business in Sverdlovsk Oblast, holding around 5 percent of all filling stations in the region. More than 70 percent of its stations are in Yekaterinburg, the regional center and Russia’s fourth most populous city. The company operates 15 self-service stations and six multifunctional station complexes in Yekaterinburg.

"The purchase of a significant network of filling stations in an oblast that is contiguous to our own Bashkortostan is a logical step toward realizing the ambitious strategy Bashneft has set for retail sales of its Ufa automotive fuel, which is well-known for its quality," explained Bashneft Vice President of Commerce Vladimir Sarkisov. "The Board of Directors recently approved a strategy that includes expanding our proprietary retail network to nearly 1,200 stations before the end of 2016. This will enable Bashneft to sell up to 80 percent of its automotive gasoline in retail outlets, raising the profitability of petroleum product sales."

Before this acquisition, Bashneft already owned 440 filling stations located in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Udmurtia Republic, and Orenburg Oblast. It also has 180 partner stations in 20 regions of Russia.