YX Energi - History

History

Hydro Texaco was a result of a merger between the Hydro and Texaco gas station chains in Norway and Denmark on January 1, 1995, with Norsk Hydro and Texaco each owning 50%. The Hydro chain had been created in the early 1990s when Norsk Hydro acquired the Mobil gas stations in Norway and Sweden and the operations of Uno-X in Denmark. In the mid of 1990s Hydro Texaco started business in the Baltic countries under brands of Hydro Texaco and later Uno-X. Texaco's ownership in Hydro Texaco was transferred to Chevron as a result of the two companies merger in 2001. In 2003 Hydro Texaco took over the operations of 35 Rema Bensin in Norway from Reitangruppen and changed them to the brand Uno YX. The chain was acquired by the Norwegian Reitangruppen in 2006. The gas stations chain in the Baltic countries was bought by Estonian company Alexela Oil.

From October 1, 2006 the chains were owned by Reitangruppen, who rebranded to YX. At the same time Coop NKL announced that it would withdraw the membership bonus on YX stations, due to REMA 1000, also owned by Reitangruppen, being a major competitor to Coop's stores.

In 2007 an agreement was made between Reitan and Shell, converting 91 Norwegian and 63 Danish YX outlets to Shell with 7-eleven stores, still owned and operated by Reitan. It has been announced that the remaining YX outlets in Denmark will be converted to Uno-X, some will still have a convenience store attached but apparently in the future with no possibility of paing for petrol in the store. As of 1 January 2009 there's 69 YX outlets and 250 Uno-X outlets in Denmark with apparently only one more to be rebranded 'Shell'.

As Shell at the same time rebranded their unmanned Metax gas-stations 'Shell Express', 12 poorly performing outlets were switched the other way to Uno-X.