Paraguay: Axion Energy sells over 40 sites to Copetrol

The Argentinian and Chinese joint venture will no longer operate gas stations in the Paraguayan market.

Axion Energy will stop operating gas stations in Paraguay. After months of negotiations, the refiner and marketer of fuels confirmed the sale of its network of some 50 sites to Copetrol, a subsidiary of Group Zapag.

The company will remain active in Paraguay, however, as the 50 gas stations will continue to operate under the Axion brand and they will be the main fuel supplier.

Axion Energy will concentrate its marketing efforts in Argentina and Uruguay instead, where they hold a bigger share of the market – the 50 sites in Paraguay accounted for 3 percent.

“It’s a business decision for the market. It has to do with making the most of the strengths that each of those companies have in Paraguay,” said the company, according to a report by El Cronista.

For Copetrol, the acquisition is another step in its expansion strategy for Paraguay. In July 2018, Petrobras sold its distribution network that included 197 service stations to Copetrol for US$ 383.5 million.

In 2012, Argentinian group Bridas Corpotation and China’s CNOOC completed the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s fuelling business in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, including a network of 751 sites, and formed Axion Energy.