This story first appeared in the May issue of DieselTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
Family-owned Waitomo Petroleum is celebrating 70 years in business this June.
Its success proves that small, hard-working companies servicing rural New Zealand can compete against corporate oil giants and flourish within the industry, it says.
Three generations of the Ormsby family have guided the business to where it is today, offering competitive prices for trucking companies and motorists, and bulk fuel delivery to commercial clients, farmers and boat owners across the North Island.
Managing director Jimmy Ormsby says his grandfather Desmond Ormsby started the business in Te Kuiti in June 1947.
“At the time Mobil Oil NZ was seeking to appoint an agent to distribute products in the King Country and my grandfather’s company, Waitomo Transport, was a credible operator who was also using Mobil products. They did a deal and the rest is history.”
Ormsby says his grandfather would be surprised and proud to see how far Waitomo Petroleum has come.
“His last impression of Waitomo was that it was a company operating as an extension of Mobil Oil New Zealand, itself a tiny piece of the global oil company Mobil Oil Limited.
“He thought there was not a lot of future in the firm for our family as a minority shareholder and his advice to my father had been to get out of the business.”
But after the $250 billion mergers of Exxon and Mobil in 1998, the family was invited to either sell its share or buy Mobil’s shareholding in Waitomo.
The family took the chance to buy out Mobil and in 2002 Waitomo reverted to being a family-owned company.
It now employs a team of 50 and has built a significant customer base in Auckland and across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
In recent times it has expanded its fuel stop network into Northland, Poverty Bay, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui.
“The Golden Triangle (Auckland/Hamilton/Tauranga) continues to experience significant economic growth and investment so this is where we’ll continue to focus our attention,” Ormsby says.
“Despite being a mature industry, the oil industry continues to change and develop and this continues to present opportunities for growth to small but experienced players such as Waitomo.”
Ormsby credits the company’s success over the past 70 years to competitive and sustainable pricing, a commitment to long-term business relationships, and maintaining high-quality equipment and systems so customers never feel let down.
“Our challenge is to keep looking ahead and to position Waitomo to succeed in whatever environment it might have to operate in.
“We are fortunate to be here and we are grateful to all the people who have contributed to Waitomo’s journey to this point.”
