{"id":857144,"date":"2026-04-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=857144"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:20:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T14:20:56","slug":"end-of-an-era-for-iconic-petrol-station-brand-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/857144\/end-of-an-era-for-iconic-petrol-station-brand-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era for iconic petrol station brand in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rebrand of Caltex to Astron Energy is nearing completion, with the 700th South African site now rebranded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site in Villiersdorp is the latest to be rebranded as part of the nationwide programme launched in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astron Energy is one of the largest transformations in South Africa\u2019s fuel industry in over three decades, with Caltex’s old blue replaced with a bright orange and purple branding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astron Energy\u00a0operates the country\u2019s second-largest petroleum retail network, with over 800 service stations nationwide. The latest rebranding means that close to 90% of Caltex have been rebranded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Bailey, Retail and Marketing General Manager at\u00a0Astron Energy, said the milestone reflects strong progress against an ambitious national rollout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we near completion, our focus remains on maintaining the highest safety and quality standards, while delivering a seamless and consistent customer experience across our network,” said Bailey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astron Energy\u00a0said that it is advancing its goal of becoming South Africa\u2019s leading fuel brand, with the 800-site milestone now firmly in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rebranding of the group comes after Glencore entered the local fuel sector in 2017 when it purchased American oil major Chevron\u2019s Southern African assets for $1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gave the commodities giant control of the Caltex brand and a strategic foothold in both fuel production and nationwide distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astron Energy entered the market following its 2018 purchase. Astron Energy was operating under the Caltex brand under a licence agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Astron Energy decided to consolidate its operations under a single, unifying brand, kickstarting a nationwide rebrand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the rebrand of the petrol stations is what customers mostly see, a major reason for Glencore’s entrance into the local market was Chevron’s Cape Town refinery in Milnerton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refinery was first opened in 1966 and produces up to 100,000 barrels of refined fuel products per day, including petrol, diesel, jet fuel and liquefied gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This refinery supplies South Africa\u2019s domestic fuel supply while also contributing to exports into neighbouring markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a shutdown period for repairs and upgrades, the refinery restarted operations in 2023 and is still running today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glencore is run by a South African CEO, Gary Nagle, who replaced fellow South African Ivan Glasenberg, who left the role in 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter which petrol station South Africans go to, pain at the pumps is expected in May. Mid-month estimates point to petrol and diesel price increases of R3 and R10, respectively, for May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the National Treasury gave South Africans a R3 per litre fuel levy relief in April, no further relief is expected. Moreover, SARS warned that it will have to recollect those lost revenues one way or another. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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The Caltex brand is close to disappearing from South Africa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caltex-branded petrol stations in South Africa are close to becoming a memory, with the rebranding to Astron Energy almost complete. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":857147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[16152,10692,9693],"class_list":["post-857144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-astron-energy","tag-caltex","tag-glencore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857151,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857144\/revisions\/857151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}