Rationale
MG was new entrant to the US oil market and didn't have a significant market share.
MG had no competitive advantage in its cost of supply
Following US oil market deregulation and commoditization in the early 1980, the situation fo independent gasoline retailers greatly worsened.
MG spotted what it thought was a innovative mardeting strategy : to sell financial petroleum products to independent and quasi-independent retail service stations to help them manage the variations in the relationship between retail prices in their area of service and the wholesale prices at which they purchased their fuel.
Result = Purchase fixed volume with variables prices and resell at fixed prices.