Hess 2000 Annual Report Download - page 18

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16
Amerada Hess has agreed to purchase 53 company-operated retail facilities from Gibbs Oil Limited Part-
nership. The sites, most of which include convenience stores, are located primarily in the Boston
metropolitan area and southern New Hampshire. All will be rebranded HESS after closing, expected in
late April.
Late in 2000, Amerada Hess announced its intention to form a joint venture with North Carolina retail
marketer A.T. Williams Oil Company, which owns and operates 120 WILCO gasoline stations with con-
venience stores and 21 WILCO Travel Centers, located primarily in North Carolina, South Carolina and
Virginia. Under the agreement, gasoline and diesel will be sold under the HESS brand.
Amerada Hess continues to build high-volume HESS EXPRESS convenience retail facilities, upgrade
existing gasoline stations and convenience stores, make acquisitions in key geographic areas and increase
the number of independent HESS branded retailers. The number of HESS retail facilities increased to
929 at year-end 2000 from 701 at year-end 1999, and is expected to reach 1,150 by year-end 2001.
Amerada Hess opened 25 new HESS EXPRESS convenience stores in 2000 and began construction
on seven others. Forty-two retail sites were upgraded by adding convenience stores or rebuilding
existing facilities.
In energy marketing, a return to colder weather in the fourth quarter of 2000 resulted in an increase in
sales and profitability in the Corporation’s distillate and fuel oil businesses. In addition, through a series
of acquisitions, the Corporation nearly tripled its natural gas sales to industrial and commercial cus-
tomers in its core East Coast market area. At the end of 2000, natural gas sales to East Coast industrial
and commercial customers were averaging in excess of 500,000 Mcf per day. The Corporation is now
the leading unregulated natural gas supplier to these markets and is in a position to grow its electricity
sales as electricity markets open to competition.
During 2000, Amerada Hess entered the distributed electric generation business through its Hess Micro-
gen subsidiary. Hess Microgen manufactures and installs a reciprocating engine cogeneration unit that
generates electricity and thermal energy at commercial and industrial customer locations, providing these
customers with a low-cost alternative to purchasing power from higher cost local electric utilities. Approx-
imately 20 of these units have been installed and are in operation.
During 2000, Amerada Hess made a long-term technology development investment in fuel cells through
an investment in Nuvera Fuel Cells, Inc. This technology, designed to produce cleaner energy, poten-
tially has widespread applications in the automotive and onsite electricity generation sectors. Nuvera
is a joint venture among Amerada Hess, Arthur D. Little, Inc. and DeNora New Energy Investments B.V.,
an Italian company.