Liberty Oil is an Australian

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

distributor and retailer. It is a subsidiary of

Viva Energy Viva Energy () is an Australian company that owns the Geelong Oil Refinery and retails Shell-branded fuels across Australia under a license agreement. It also owns and retails Liberty Oil and Woodside Petroleum-branded service stations. In total ...

History

Liberty Oil was founded in 1995 by David Goldberger and David Wieland, who had previously founded

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

in 1974, before selling it to

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,900 Ampol-branded stations across the country . It also ope ...

in 1989. Goldberger and Wieland had been subject to a ten year

non-compete clause In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition agains ...

however this was ruled void by the

Trade Practices Commission The Trade Practices Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia responsible for monitoring and enforcement activities under the Trade Practices Act 1974 The ''Competition and Consumer Act 2010'' (CCA) is an Act of the Parliame ...

when Ampol merged with Caltex. In July 2001, Liberty leased 69 of its sites to Woolworths which were rebranded as Woolworths Plus Petrol. At this stage it had an 8% market share of the Australian petrol market. In August 2014,

purchased a 50% shareholding, taking full ownership in February 2019. As part of Viva Energy taking full ownership, Liberty Oil Convenience was established as a new

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

to operate the existing Liberty retail network with Viva Energy owning 50% (non-controlling), and Goldberger and Wieland the balance. Viva will gain rights to fully acquire the joint venture in 2025. As Viva Energy also operates Shell-branded stations in Australia, Liberty accepts the Shell Card used in Shell stations. , it operates 284 service stations.

References

External links

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Liberty OilLiberty Oil Convenience
Automotive fuel retailers in Australia Companies based in Melbourne Energy companies established in 1995 category:Retail companies established in 1995 1995 establishments in Australia