The move to spin off the stations — which will continue to bear the Hess name — indicates the sale process either failed to attract a high enough price or that a potential buyer was likely to change the name of the stations, a move that didn't sit well with Hess brass, a banking source told The Post. The company is under pressure to show it is selling noncore assets ahead of its May annual meeting. Activists — including Paul Singer's Elliott Associates — will soon determine whether to launch a second proxy fight in as many years. Elliott has been pushing the company to split its US and international assets. Hess has not been willing to go that far. "A gas sale would be nice, but it is not central," a Hess shareholder, who wants more change, told The Post. "We will have to decide if [CEO] John Hess is an impediment or not," he added. Last spring Elliott and other activist investors succeeded in winning three board seats in a proxy fight.