New and improved pages on the
European Petrol Road Map Web Site

Coming Next..

Some slight internet problems mean that updates are rather irregular at the moment (and may be for the next few months). However this site is certainly still very active and more maps are being cached for inclusion in the autumn. It is also hoped to redesign the pages so that they are optimised for 1024x800 resolution (rather than 800x600 as at present) but so that they will still print out well. I will also be working in partnership with a US collector who is planning to show large numbers of petrol company maps from the rest of the world.

Now on line:

A 1966 German Esso atlas of Europe
Esso's German subsidiary regularly sold near A4 paperback atlases, with cartography mainly by Karl Thiemig. Its 1966 edition followed this pattern, although the small-scale maps were by General Drafting Co. (Updated 28 April 2008)

A DEA atlas from Kux & Krahn
The description of how DEA distributors (jobbers) used slightly customised versions of the standad DEA atlas has been enhanced by showing an example from Kux & Krahn. (Updated 8 March 2008)

BP's 1980 Netherlands map
Most of the major companies continued to issue maps for sale in the Netherlands through the 1980s and later. None of these maps are found in huge quantities, so I will occasionally add new images as they become available - the most recent being a 1980 BP (Falk) edition. (Updated 6 March 2008)

An Esso Tourist Guide of Tunisia
The number of known Esso maps and guides from Tunisia continues to grow with the addition of a green covered 1953 Tourist Guide of the country running to around 140 pages. (Updated 2 March 2008)

Eko-Elda in Greece
Hellenic Petroleum is the Greek national oil company and it supplies filling stations under the Eko brand name in Greece and some neighbouring countries. Until around 2005 it also used the Elda brand in Greece itself, and a 2003 map issue of five Dodecanese islands has now been found carrying both logos. This appears to be from a series of 50 sectional maps, although I have seen none previously. If you can provide me with any other titles in this series, or indeed of any other Greek maps from the past 20 years from other petrol companies, then please send me an e-mail! (Updated 24 February 2008)

An Aral sectional map of Yugoslavia
Prior to the break-up of Yugoslavia, the main international oil company touring services often included Yugoslavia in the map programmes as it was a popular holiday destination, even though they had no retail operations there. In 1969 Aral's Austrian subsidiary repackaged two Freytag-Berndt sectional maps of the country for sale to its customers. (Updated 24 February 2008)

Recent Russian Maps
Oil companies have been involved in the sponsorship of many more road atlases since the Russia page was first created in 2000, and so the page has now been comprehensively rewritten with new images and four new brands shown: Yukos, Lukoil, Phaeton and PTK. However I actually only have two of the maps shown on the page, so if anyone can help me by sourcing oil company branded maps from Russia, then please let me know! (Updated 24 February 2008)

A Fina map of Brussels
Given that Fina was based in Belgium, it might be expected that it would have regularly issued maps of Brussels. However, its regular issues were only just of the country (although Fina did issue several city maps in Germany, and a London map). In the late 1970s, larger Fina stations on the European highways were seemingly encouraged to add bespoke covers to Falkplan issues, and it is from one of these that a Fina map of Brussels is now displayed. (Updated 9 February 2008)

An Agip map from Switzerland
Although Agip has sold a number of different maps of Switzerland, none have previously been shown on this site, and a 1972 edition with an unusual way of locating towns in the index has been added. (Updated 6 February 2008)

Din-X's 2007 stations-guide
Din-X, one of Sweden's largest independent brands, issued a proper road map using Folia's QuickMap system as its 2007 station locator guide. (Updated 2 February 2008)

Igol's 1979 map
Igol is a loose affiliation of French lubricant companies that, nonetheless, issued a map at fairly regular intervals from the 1970s to the 1990s. Using the title "Routes de France" a 1979 (or 1978?) example has now been added. (Updated 27 January 2008)

A pair of BP maps of Morocco
At the end of the 1950s BP issued a pair of Moroccan maps by adding its own card covers to Michelin issues numbered 170 and 171. It appears that the maps inside were already around 5 years old, dating from 1954 and 1955 before the BP covers were applied. (Updated 13 January 2008)

I have taken the opportunity to split the BP standard design maps from the 1950s-70s away from the non-standard national variations. (Updated 13 January 2008)

Two BP maps with the final shield logo
BP introduced an italicised shield logo on a controlled dark green background in 1989. Maps bearing this late logo are relatively uncommon, but two more have been added: a 1993 from Sweden and a 1994 of Benelux, issued to promote the BP-Routex card. (Updated 13 January 2008)

GB in the Netherlands
GB (Gebroeders Broere) was a Dutch fuel distributor acquired in the 1960s by the US conglomerate Tenneco. A GB map has now been discovered, probably dating from the 1960s. (Updated 4 January 2008)

A tenth Esso map of Tunisia
It's relatively uncommon to find multiple designs of a brand/country combinations outside Europe or North America. One notable exception is Esso in Tunisia, for which a tenth distinct design, dating from 1971, has now been found. (Updated 4 January 2008)