Hughes Wins BP Amoco Satellite Contract

Hughes Electronics Corp. won a contract to supply satellites to BP Amoco for its U.S. service stations to transmit credit card and other transaction data, beating out rival Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.

The five-year contract, valued at about $50 million, is for 8,600 BP Amoco service stations in the U.S., a Hughes spokeswoman said. Analysts had expected Israel-based Gilat, which was a customer of British Petroleum before it acquired Amoco Corp., to win the contract. Amoco was a customer of El Segundo-based Hughes.

Now, by using one supplier, satellite service for the combined company will be “uniform across the board” and will reduce costs, said a BP Amoco spokesman.

Hughes fell 58 cents to close at $58.25 on the NYSE.