Migrol

Migrol AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	1954
Seat	Zurich , Switzerland
management	Daniel Hofer ; ( CEO ) ; Beat Zahnd ; ( Chairman of the Board )
Number of employees	194
sales	1.529 billion CHF
Branch	Mineral oil trade
Website	www.migrol-heizoel.ch
	As of December 31, 2018

The Migrol AG is a Swiss oil company and a subsidiary of the Migros -Konzerns. The company, which is based in Zurich, generated sales of just under CHF 1.529 billion in 2018 and employed 194 people.

Field of activity

Migrol's business area mainly comprises the operation of petrol stations , petrol station shops and the sale of heating oil as well as related services. Migrol manages 307 filling stations and 70 washing facilities across Switzerland (as of 2018). In 2018, Migrol operated a Migrolino shop at 100 petrol stations . Migrol also carries out tank inspections and sells wood pellets . In addition, Migrol also offers alternative forms of energy for generating heat and hot water as well as for generating electricity.

history

Migrol petrol station in Bülach

Former Migrol tank facility from 1959 in Tössriedern, Eglisau

Migrol was founded on March 8, 1954 as a subsidiary of the Federation of Migros Cooperatives (MGB). Gottlieb Duttweiler had already recognized in 1929 that the price of petrol was far too high compared to the actual production costs . A quarter of a century later he began to take action against the cartel of oil companies , which usually sold a liter of gasoline in Switzerland at nine to ten cents above the world market price. His lawyer Walter Baechi introduced him to the independent oil trader Jean Arnet, who had similar goals but did not have the necessary capital. Duttweiler immediately hired Arnet as director and charged him with building up the company. Initially, Migrol pursued an aggressive price policy in the heating oil trade and forced the competition to lower prices.

Negotiations with the automobile trade association about supplying petrol stations with cheaper petrol failed, whereupon Migrol opened its first own petrol station in Geneva on September 13, 1954 . The auto industry reacted to the new competition with even lower competitive prices, but was unable to maintain this for long. The low price policy led to a real "petrol war" which resulted in a reduction in the price level in Switzerland by an average of 15%. With Rheinreederei AG , which is also part of the MGB , Migrol had its own supply route to Rotterdam and Antwerp ( Rhine shipping ). In order to be independent of the corporations in the processing of crude oil as well, Duttweiler strove for an independent refinery from 1957 . In Germany he negotiated with Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard and Finance Minister Franz Etzel as well as with the state government of Lower Saxony about the construction of the Frisia oil works in Emden . With the support of the Girozentrale , the financing was mainly provided by thousands of small shareholders. After 14 months of construction, the refinery started operations on August 25, 1960. It was the first refinery in the world that was not owned by large corporations. The crude oil was brought from Iran with our own tankers . As early as 1965, Migrol withdrew from the refinery business due to a lack of profitability and sold the shares to Saarbergwerke .

With a view to the “Project 1961” of the Swiss-German Technical Commission for the navigation of the High Rhine , Migrol built a tank farm for heating oil, gasoline, diesel, heavy and light oil, solvents and CHCs on the banks of the Rhine near Tössriederen , Eglisau in 1959 . The plans for the loading facility were not implemented as large cargo ships never went to Eglisau. Instead, the raw materials were transported by tanker truck . The facility was closed in 1978 and the total 40,000 m² property (including warehouse) was sold in 1986 to the architect Marcel Quiliber, who wanted to build a large housing estate on it. The following years showed that these projects could never be approved. The entire tank system lay, partly overgrown, underground for years. The renovation of the facility did not begin until 2018. The company Eberhard Bau AG received the order to remove the 199 tanks from the ground. The demolition of the old tank farm, which was once designed for 40 million liters of oil, lasted until summer 2019 and cost 5 million francs, of which Migrol paid 90%. 47.56 8,548

In December 1972, Migrol was the first mineral oil company in Switzerland to introduce low-lead petrol. From the 1980s onwards, she expanded her area of activity and first built up a network of brand-independent car service centers . A nationwide gas station shop network was set up later. Migrol has been offering alternative forms of energy for heat and hot water generation since 2015 and for electricity production since 2016. It sells and installs heat pumps and heat pump boilers itself, thereby eliminating the intermediary trade. In addition, a nationwide network for hydrogen filling stations is to be implemented by 2023 .

The autoSense Fuel App mobile app has been activated at all petrol stations since June 2019. a. serve for automated payment.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Company brochure . Retrieved February 19, 2018 .
↑ Keystone-SDA : Migros and Shell extend cooperation In: nau.ch , September 10, 2018, accessed on September 11, 2018.
^ The business areas of Migrol. In: Migrol AG. Retrieved February 12, 2019 .
^ Philipp Albrecht: Migros: How Denner and Migrolino reliably deliver profits. In: bilanz.ch . April 24, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019 .
↑ Curt Riess : Gottlieb Duttweiler - a biography of Curt Riess . Europa Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905811-32-2 , pp. 359-361 .
^ Alfred A. Häsler : The Migros Adventure. The 60 year old idea . Ed .: Federation of Migros Cooperatives. Migros Presse, Zurich 1985, p. 322 .
^ Riess: Gottlieb Duttweiler. Pp. 363-364.
^ Riess: Gottlieb Duttweiler. Pp. 366-370.
↑ Ulrike Nitschke: Construction site insight: Dismantling of the Migrol tank farm. Baublatt , November 5, 2018, accessed October 10, 2019 .
↑ Florian Schaer: End for the Migros petrol bunker. Zürcher Unterländer , November 15, 2017, accessed October 10, 2019 .
^ Häsler: The Migros Adventure. P. 341.
↑ Mario Graf: Socar Energy Switzerland relies on hydrogen. In: energate-messenger.ch. September 21, 2018, accessed September 30, 2018 .
↑ Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund: Refuel without a wallet at Migrol - with the autoSense Fuel app. In: swiss-press.com. June 3, 2019, accessed June 3, 2019 .

[Unternehmensbroschuere-1] Company brochure . Retrieved February 19, 2018 .

[2] Keystone-SDA : Migros and Shell extend cooperation In: nau.ch , September 10, 2018, accessed on September 11, 2018.

[3] The business areas of Migrol. In: Migrol AG. Retrieved February 12, 2019 .

[bilanz-4] Philipp Albrecht: Migros: How Denner and Migrolino reliably deliver profits. In: bilanz.ch . April 24, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019 .

[5] Curt Riess : Gottlieb Duttweiler - a biography of Curt Riess . Europa Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905811-32-2 , pp. 359-361 .

[6] Alfred A. Häsler : The Migros Adventure. The 60 year old idea . Ed .: Federation of Migros Cooperatives. Migros Presse, Zurich 1985, p. 322 .

[7] Riess: Gottlieb Duttweiler. Pp. 363-364.

[8] Riess: Gottlieb Duttweiler. Pp. 366-370.

[9] Ulrike Nitschke: Construction site insight: Dismantling of the Migrol tank farm. Baublatt , November 5, 2018, accessed October 10, 2019 .

[10] Florian Schaer: End for the Migros petrol bunker. Zürcher Unterländer , November 15, 2017, accessed October 10, 2019 .

[11] Häsler: The Migros Adventure. P. 341.

[12] Mario Graf: Socar Energy Switzerland relies on hydrogen. In: energate-messenger.ch. September 21, 2018, accessed September 30, 2018 .

[handelszeitung-13] Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund: Refuel without a wallet at Migrol - with the autoSense Fuel app. In: swiss-press.com. June 3, 2019, accessed June 3, 2019 .