Petrol Company Road Maps from Ukraine
Petrol Company Road Maps from Ukraine |
|
Ukraine gained its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991, having been part of the Russian Empire since 1653. As such, there are no pre-1990s oil company maps of the country. Although Ukraine has a small indigenous oil industry, it provides under 10% of the country's needs, and most crude oil comes from Russia. This pattern was initially reflected in the post-independence downstream petrol industry, with Russian controlled companies supplying a significant proportion of filling stations. However this is changing as Ukrainian petrol companies have started to consolidate, with the state controlled Ukrnafta leading the way with over 450 outlets. Simultaneously, the Russian firms are looking to invest in better quality company-owned outlets, but to reduce numbers of smaller private stations supplied. The main Russian names are TNK (which operates through its joint venture with Britain's BP) - which at one time had over 1200 stations, Lukoil and (possibly) Yukos. Most recently, a Ukrainian company has licensed the use of the Shell brand in the country.
|
|
Although Elf petrol has never been sold in Ukraine, Elf oils are promoted by reference to the their success with the Renault Formula 1 team. This atlas of Ukraine dates from 2002 and was one of a number produced by Vidavnictvo "Mapa" (founded 1991) for leading oil companies around the millennium. 12 pages of maps at 1:1,500,000 are supplemented by four pages of advertising for Elf oils, all printed on fairly low grade paper.
|
|
|
The local petrol company ANP issued this A5 format atlas of the country in July 2004. The entire country is covered on 37 map pages at the scale of 1:1,000,000 using base maps from GIPP "Kartografia". Additional maps show the areas around the 28 main cities at 1:200,000 and town plans of the same cities. All the maps mark ANP service stations (distinguishing between those with and without smart card terminals) and also show the locations of Ukrprombank branches. The addresses and phone numbers of the 358 ANP stations are listed at the front of the atlas. |
|
|
OKKO is probably the sixth largest Ukrainian brand of petrol, owned by Galnaftogaz. It operates a chain of over 150 Western-style filling stations mainly in the SW of the country, but also expanding into Kiev and the Crimea. In January 2005, OKKO started selling an atlas of the Carpathian region (slightly South of the company's bases in Stryi and Lviv). This ran to 104 A5 pages in total, with the first half given over to high quality maps of the region at 1:250,000. Each page also includes limited tourist information about the localities covered and marks OKKO filling station locations. The 11 largest towns in the region have large scale town plans (typically at 1:15,000). Although the company's branding is not shown on the front cover, OKKO-specific information is included throughout the atlas, which was compiled for them by DIVL Kartografia (Ukrmap). |
|
The OKKO sheet map shown here also dates from 2005, yet is wholly branded for the company on its front cover. Unlike the atlas it covers the whole of the country, but at the much reduced scale of 1:1,250,000. |
|
No maps are known from any of the other major players, such as TNK, Ukrnafta, Lukoil or Yukos, nor from smaller regional names such as Ukrtatnafta, Paralleli or Gefest. But please send me an e-mail if you have a map from one of these firms in the Ukraine, or if you have a copy of the Visco-BP, Shell or Baltia-Khort atlases referred to above.
The oil industry in Ukraine remains highly politicised, and is likely to change significantly again in the next few years.
|
|
|||
|
Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2007
|
|||
