In its reply to the article the company said that 'while the Australian petroleum marketing business is a very difficult environment in which to generate a reasonable return, Mobil has made no decision to quit petrol retailing.'

Mobil also refuted the idea that it had a team of lawyers in Melbourne to finalise a major environmental audit of its entire retail petrol network of 550 stations for the purposes of selling or re-branding the assets.

Contrary to the story the company said it is working to strengthen its position in what is one of the most competitive petroleum markets in the world.

The issue has surfaced in the wake of the Coles/Woolworths attack on the petrol market in an attempt to boost their retail sales.

Coles recently paid around $100 million to operate Shell's 584 franchise sites pending the results of a trial program in Victoria.