Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd. plan to begin operating a service station business in Vietnam’s capital city, Hanoi, through Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC, a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies.
In overseas growth markets centered on the Pacific Rim, Idemitsu Kosan is making progress on building the foundations of businesses ranging from production and procurement of petroleum products through the sale of such products. In April 2016, Idemitsu Kosan and KPI-investors in Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited Liability Company in Vietnam established Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC to engage in wholesale and retail marketing of petroleum products.
Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC will be the first foreign company to build and operate a service station in Vietnam, inside Hanoi’s Thang Long Industrial Park, which is home to the facilities of numerous Japanese firms.
This service station will differentiate itself from local competitors by proactively adopting and firmly establishing operational expertise based on Idemitsu Kosan’s experience operating service stations in Japan and KPI’s experience operating service stations under the Q8 brand in Europe. It also will strive to improve customer convenience by adopting the first full POS/card system in Vietnam, a system that includes cashless transactions at the pump.
In the environmental area, it will install safe, eco-friendly underground tanks that meet the latest safety standards using state-of-the-art technology, while also cooperating proactively in the establishment of legal and regulatory systems related to the prevention of oil leaks, which remain underdeveloped in Vietnam.
Starting with this service station, Idemitsu Q8 Petroleum LLC first will build a sales channel by opening a network of service stations concentrated on the area between Hai Phong Port and Hanoi along National Highway 5, home to many logistics companies.
