Control of 430 Mobil stations shifts today

The signs may look the same and gasoline prices won't change as a result, but control of 430 Mobil gasoline stations in Texas will change hands Friday.<br><br>Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp., formed

Friday, March 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The signs may look the same and gasoline prices won't change as a result, but control of 430 Mobil gasoline stations in Texas will change hands Friday.

Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp., formed when Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. merged last year, said Thursday that it has completed three deals to divest many of the stations carrying Mobil's name in Texas.

The announcement followed the Federal Trade Commission's decision Wednesday to approve the sales, required as part of Exxon Mobil's decision to merge.

Exxon Mobil has sold its interest in a joint venture that controlled 318 stations, most in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to partner Tetco Inc.

Mobil formed the relationship with Tetco two years ago.

Tetco, a privately held San Antonio company that operates other service stations as well, is paying just over $50 million for Mobil's 49 percent share of the joint venture.

In addition, 7-Eleven Inc., formerly Southland Corp., is buying Mobil's interests in 10 local service stations - seven in the Dallas area and three in the Fort Worth area - that Mobil and the 7-Eleven parent had developed and operated.

Exxon Mobil is also assigning Mobil's supply contracts to about 102 stations in Bryan-College Station and Houston to Petroleum Wholesale Inc. of Houston.

But even with the divestitures of stations that Mobil owned, operated, leased or supplied, Exxon Mobil stations will still be a major presence in Texas, said Exxon Mobil spokesman Dave Dickson on Thursday.

"We still are a very strong competitor in Texas, and we'll have somewhere around 1,500 Exxon stations and 200 Mobil stations in Texas," Mr. Dickson said.

Mr. Dickson said many of the 430 stations affected by Thursday's announcement also will continue carrying the Mobil name as allowed in the sale agreements.

As part of their review of the Exxon-Mobil merger, the Federal Trade Commission and the Texas attorney general's office ordered that Exxon Mobil divest the Texas service stations so that Exxon or Mobil stations wouldn't have too much dominance in various parts of the state.

To win approval for the merger, Exxon Mobil also agreed to sell its interests in about 1,700 stations in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, 340 stations and a refinery in California, a joint venture in Europe and interests in several pipelines.

It also had to make other concessions.