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Navigation aidDomestic Brands in Finland

Background

Suomi-Finland has always had a relatively unusual downstream petrol market, with a few main players, including strong domestic names, but very few smaller independent names. In the 1970s the main local operators were Kesoil, E, Union and TB, but by the mid-1990s the first three had all been merged into Neste, although the Kesoil name survived until the turn of the century. Today, the names include ABC, St1, Teboil (TB), Neste Oil and Seo. As it has expanded into neighbouring Baltic states and Poland, Neste is considered separately on this web site.

ABC!

2008 Z-map of Greater Helsinki for ABC shown partly unfolded

In 2000 the SOK cooperative group, which had for many years owned service stations often selling Esso, introduced its own brand, ABC! In 2006, ABC acquired the entire Esso operation, retaining 44 full service stations, but selling most of the unmanned or smaller sites to its domestic rival St1.
Although no rergular maps are known in 2008 it gave a way a credit card-sized Z-map of the greater Helsinki region, showing where its service stations could be found, and highlighting those with its ABC Deli cafe or car washes. This opened out to 24 times its folded size, and contained a usable map by Taskumediatalo, with colour-coded details of each station printed on the reverse.

2012-3 ABC station locator booklet
An ABC booklet from 2012 (above right) devotes most of its 80 pages to detailed half page descriptions of its main service stations, and has a single fold out map that extends to just 350x200mm and is of limited use other than for basic route planning, despite being drawn by Karttakeskus.

SEO

2001 SEO map of Finland

Extract from 2001 SEO map of FinlandEstablished in 1978, Seo (standing for Suomalainen Energiaosuuskunta Oy) has grown steadily to supply over 185 filling stations, although most are unmanned automat outlets.

Seo's 2001 map uses the QuickMap system from the Danish company Folia. It is a high quality production at 1:1,000,000 with 11 map panels - the twelfth listing the facilities at each Seo service station. The extract shows how Seo stations had reached as far North as the Arctic Circle at Rovaniemi; by 2013 they go right to the Northern border. Its 2011 map is by Harvest MVA.

2011 Seo Map of Finland

ST1

2010 St1 locator booklet map of Finland

In the 1990s a new brand was introduced by the Greeni group, St1, which had set up in competition to Neste as an importer of fuels, with a special interest in biofuels. This grew rapidly, mainly through unmanned locations, and in 2006 Esso sold its chain in a complex transaction which led to St1 acquiring 140 of Esso's service stations as well as its aviation, industrial, LPG and truck diesel operations. In 2010, Shell also sold out to St1, but the new owner retained the rights to use the Shell brand on their existing network. St1 has expanded across Scandinavia, including acquiring Shell's Swedish chain and Jet in Norway, but no maps are known from outside Finland.

This 2010 station locator booklet includes 10 pages of usable maps by Harvest MVA Oy, as well as listings of all stations, and a separate list of its "Truckstations".

TEBOIL

1998 Teboil map booklet of FinlandThe Teboil brand was formerly TB, taking its name from Trustivapaa Bensiini, established in 1934. Controlled from the start by Nafta Moskva, a Russian oil corporation, after 1948 Oy Teboil Ab was operated under common management with Suomen Petrooli Oy - Finska Petroleum Ab; Teboil was the marketing company and Suomen Petrooli concentrated on importing and wholesaling products. Together they controlled nearly a quarter of the Finnish market. In 1980 the brand was exclusively TB, but the old name was gradually downplayed in favour of Teboil. In 2005 Teboil & Suomen Petrooli were both acquired by Russia's Lukoil, but they continue to use the Teboil name on service stations.

The Teboil map shown is a 1998 service station booklet listing all retail outlets and including 12 pages of maps at 1:2,000,000 by Karttakeskus. Unusually one page folds out to double width to allow the whole of Southern Finland to appear on a single two page spread. Teboil/TB possibly also issued more conventional sheet maps but these are not easily found outside Finland.


Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2000-13

All original copyrights in logos and map extracts and images are acknowledged and images are included on this site for identification purposes only.