RUBIS West Indies Limited, which acquired the Texaco assets owned and operated by Chevron in the Eastern Caribbean in 2011, has launched its new brand to Dominica.
RUBIS, a French based international private limited company founded in 1990, specializes in the downstream petroleum and chemicals sector, operating bulk liquid storage facilities (for petroleum products and chemicals).
On Thursday, May 8, 2014, Mauricio Nicholls, chief executive officer for RUBIS Caribbean, introduced a new line of lubricants and its six rebranded service stations at a press conference at the Fort Young Hotel in Roseau.
The rebranding which commenced in February 2014 is costing the company about US$600, 000.
“It’s a very significant milestone for us, it’s really the birth of the new brand here in this beautiful country,” Nicholls said.
“We have just completed the rebranding of six or seven service stations here in Dominica…the unanimous feeling amongst the public is that the stations look really, really nice…they look appealing, they look modern, they look clean, they look fresh,” he added.
The new line of lubricant dubbed Ultra Tec is an advanced additive technology which is included in all their fuels.
“It’s a fully synthetic additive performance package that we add to our fuels to reduce emissions, clean up engines, keep engines performing at their best and also to provide fuel economy benefits”.
“So for those customers who are new to our field, they will hopefully see within one or two tank-fulls they are getting better miles for the gallon, that their engines are running much smoother, that their engines are running much better,” Nicholls explained.
Locally, RUBIS employs ten people covering operations and sales and manages a network of nine service stations, six of which have been rebranded to RUBIS.
These service stations are located in Portsmouth, A. C Shilingford Service Station, Castle Comfort Service Station, Jimmit Service Station, Marigot Service Station and Calibishie Service Station.
Additionally, Nicholls explained that the company has placed a lot of emphasis in improving the service at its service stations.
“We recognize that excellent service is what retains our customers and what makes them want to come back again and again and again to our service stations”.
“We have put a lot of resources in training and in partnering with entities to make sure that you and the consuming public always get top quality service at our service stations,” he said.
RUBIS, described as a leading supplier or premium aviation fuels in the Caribbean, operates in seventeen territories including Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, St Lucia and Guadeloupe and manages a network of two hundred and thirty (230) service stations.
According to Nicholls, the Caribbean is “hugely important for RUBIS” as the Caribbean represents 70% of the turnover of RUBIS Energy, “so it’s a very large chunk of what we do globally”.
Also, within the RUBIS Energy Division and within RUBIS Corporation, the Caribbean represents approximately 60% of their global revenue.
“So the Caribbean is very important strategically to us, it’s very important in terms of size and contribution to our bottom line, it’s very important in terms of the volumes of lubricants that we sell in the region”.
Meanwhile, RUBIS’ country representative for Dominica, Nicholson Dodds noted that the company is a committed supporter of Dominica’s development through sponsorship of community projects.
Apart from sponsoring cricket, the company and its local employees are undertaking a project to install a ceiling at a preschool in Wesley.
“We see it very important as a social partner that we actually need to collaborate in those efforts,” Dodds said. The estimated cost of that project is in the region of three thousand dollars.
Via [www.dominicavibes.dm]
