Petrol Company Road Maps from Finland

The downstream oil industry in Finland has always been relatively unusual in Europe, with a few main players, including strong domestic names, but very few smaller independent names. In the early 1970s the main operators were Shell, Esso, BP, Gulf and three local names: Kesoil, Union and the Soviet-controlled TB. Gulf sold out to Kesoil's parent, which adopted the E-Ölje identity, and around 1980 BP sold in stages to Union. The Finnish Government acquired control of Union and E, merging them into a new Neste brand, which was combined in the 1990s with Kesoil. The latter name gradually disappeared in favour of Neste, but A24 is now used at the increasing number of unmanned outlets, possibly to prevent Neste appearing too dominant as it has around one-third of the market.

SEO started operations in 1978 as the only true independent name, although in recent years it has been joined by ABC, ST1 and the US-owned Jet chain, although this was sold to Russia's Lukoil, owner of the former Teboil chain, in 2007. ABC and ST1 jointly acquired Esso's outlets in December 2006. The market continues to be split between automated discount stations, and larger full-service sites often incorporating a cafe or restaurant.

Maps

No maps issued by individual oil companies are known from before the Second World War. The map shown (above right) was given away jointly by the Suomen Automobiili Klubi (Finnish Automobile Club) and Yleinen Autoliitto (Suomi Touring Club) in 1939. It is also described as being published in co-operation with Oy Vacuum Oil Company AB, Nobel Standard (Esso) and Oy Shell AB. Vacuum only sold Mobiloil lubricants in Finland, and not motor spirit, but the map notes (in four languages) There are Shell and Esso service stations in every more important place. Prepared by Werner Söderström of Porvoo at 1:1,500,000 it is fascinating for showing the country before the Soviet annexation of Karelia and other territories. The reverse side has small town plans for 49 cities, including one for Helsinki that clearly marks the Olympic villages and training place. Of course, the Olympics were not held in 1940, and these facilities had to wait until 1952 for use...

...and indeed in 1952, the Olympic facilities featured on the cover of an Esso map. As elsewhere in Europe, Esso issued scenic cover maps through the 1950s, including the second example shown from 1957. Both were drawn for Esso by Maanmittaushallitus (the Finnish National Survey) at a scale of 1:1,500,000, although the older map does not use General Drafting Co designs and has 50 small town plans on the reverse. (An earlier, 1949 Esso map is shown in the Esso section.)
Shell and BP also issued maps of the country, and the two examples here both date from 1964. The Shell issue, although carrying a typical international cover design, was a wholly local production inside with a map at 1:1,000,000 by Maanmittaushallitus. This marked all Shell stations and also featured humorous colour sketches of Finnish scenes at the top of each side, including the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki, a sauna and Lapps with reindeer.
In contrast, BP's map was printed by George Philip & Son in London at the much smaller scale of 1:2,500,000 as part of a series for its Touring Service.
As might be expected from a Finnish company, the 1974 Kesoil issue also used Maanmittaushallitus cartography - at the intermediate scale of 1:1,500,000 - and marked all Kesoil filling stations. The domestic brand Union also issued maps of Finland in the 1960s and 70s.

By the mid-1970s, Shell was also using an overseas touring service - with cartography by Mairs of Stuttgart at 1:1,500,000, and no longer locating Shell stations. In contrast, Esso's 1983 map is locally produced, showing a typical large Esso station (with cafeteria) on its cover and designed for sale; it is at the generous scale of 1:800,000. Shell's 1984 map was probably for free issue as it marks and lists all its filling stations and is at the smaller scale of 1:1.5mn. Maanmittaushallitus provided the cartography for both these maps.

By the late 1990s most firms had stopped selling branded maps, although several were giving away small booklet maps marking their stations, with good quality cartography by Karttakeskus at 1:2,000,000. The first three maps all fit this pattern - Shell from 1996, Esso 1997 and Teboil 1998. The Shell and Esso examples both have 10 pages of maps, with two more in the Teboil, although more recent Shell issues have extended the number of maps and slightly increased the format. All booklets also provide full service station lists, identifying facilities available for motorists.
The Seo and Jet maps are both conventional folding maps issued in 2001, but apart from both marking and listing their filling stations, they are very different. Seo's map comes from Folia of Denmark and uses their QuickMap system to dissect it into manageable sections covering all of Finland at 1:1,000,000. Jet's was prepared by Sweden's Kartcentrum and covers all four Nordic Countries at around 1:2,100,000. It also includes small plans for each of the towns with a Jet station - 18 in the case of Finland, a market that Jet only entered as recently as 1993.

As Finland is neither a major tourist or business destination (although I can vouch that it is an excellent country to visit), old maps of the country turn up only rarely in the UK, and only around 0.25% of my collection are from Finland. There are a couple of extra Esso maps shown on this site, together with a map from Neste covering the area from St Petersburg to Warsaw.
Please send me an e-mail if you can tell me more or especially if you have any maps from ABC, E, Gulf, Nobelin, Rekord or ST1 that I can add to this site!

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