Cummings Oil Acquired by Jacksons, Carson Oil
Safeway Settles Unfair Lawsuit with Dassel's Petroleum
Refineries, Stations Shut By Hawaiian Quake
OPW Fueling Components Acquires Environ

CUMMINGS OIL ACQUIRED BY JACKSONS, CARSON OIL

MERIDIAN, ID. — Jacksons Food Stores, based here, has acquired Cummings Oil of Albany, OR. The price for the deal was not disclosed; however, Cummings Oil annual sales are estimated between $350 and $400 million.

Jacksons will keep the 100 c-stores and service stations formerly operated by Cummings Oil. Eight of the sites will be rebranded to the Jacksons name while the remainder will keep the Chevron or 76 brand under which they are currently operating.

"Cummings Oil is a well respected company with a loyal customer base. Their locations, operations and reputation fit perfectly with Jacksons' customer-centric principles," said John D. Jackson, CEO, announcing the acquisition.

As part of the deal, Jacksons acquired Cummings' commercial lube and fuel operations but they immediately resold that portion of the business to Carson Oil of Portland, OR.

Rick Mikesell, president of Cummings Oil, said that he decided to sell because, "It's a really tough industry. We went through a stretch of tough years from 1999 to 2002. It was touch and go. We made some big acquisitions of the Chevron stations in Salem and Eugene and turned the corner. I felt we were at the top of our market." Because of the competitive nature of the business, however, Mikesell believed that he would have to continue expanding the company outside of Oregon. "I've got four kids and I want to spend more time with them, not less," he said.

Mikesell will leave the industry to operate Cummings Transfer, a sister company based in Albany that provides moving services. The remainder of Cummings Oil's 300 employees will retain their jobs with either Jackson Oil, Carson Oil, or Cummings Transfer, according to company leaders.

With the acquisition of Cummings, Jacksons, which includes Jacksons Oil, Jacksons Food Stores and Capitol Distributing, is now reportedly one of the largest marketers in the west with over $1 billion in annual sales. The company operates over 300 service stations, c-stores, carwashes, and travel centers in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon.

Carson Oil markets fuel, lubricants, and heating oil in Oregon and Washington as well as owning and operating six service stations and c-stores and 15 cardlocks.

SAFEWAY SETTLES UNFAIR LAWSUIT WITH DASSEL'S PETROLEUM

SACRAMENTO, CA. — A below-cost selling case that pitted California marketer Dassel's Petroleum of Hollister, CA., against supermarket chain Safeway has been settled out of court.

The action ends a lawsuit that has been pending since 2004 when Dassel's filed suit against Safeway, claiming the supermarket chain had violated California's Unfair Business Practices Act or Unfair Competition Act.

Safeway opened its service station in Hollister in 2002 and Dassel's claimed in its lawsuit that Safeway was selling gasoline below cost "with the intent to harm competitors or competition." The company said that it was able to show Safeway's street prices were lower than rack prices during the same period of time which led to the legal action.

The settlement comes on the heels of a similar settlement by Safeway in Colorado where the chain had been charged with violating Colorado's Unfair Business Act by selling gasoline below cost.

In both lawsuits, the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

REFINERIES, STATIONS SHUT BY HAWAIIAN QUAKE

KAPOLEI, HI. — An earthquake that shook the Hawaiian Islands in October forced Tesoro Hawaii and Chevron to shut down their refineries operating on the islands.

In addition several service stations in the area of Kona, HI., were temporarily shut down because they were unable to receive fuel deliveries. The County of Hawaii had closed Highway 19, the only route approved for fuel trucks, to evaluate damage to the road following the quake. The stations were re-opened after an alternative delivery route was determined to be safe for fuel delivery trucks and approved by the County.

The tremblor caused a power outage which forced the shutdown of the refineries. Both major oil companies spent several days evaulating the safety of their facilities and looking for damage before bringing the refineries back on-line.

Locals reported that supply was short for a brief period of time but there were no major problems linked with the refinery shut-downs. Inventories of refined products were high in Hawaii when the earthquake struck.

Tesoro's 94,000 barrel per day Kapolei Refinery is located approximately 22 miles west of Honolulu and produces gasoline and gasoline blendstocks, jet fuel, diesel fuel, heavy fuel oils, liquefied petroleum gas and asphalt. Chevron's Kapolei Refinery has a capacity of 54,000 barrels per day.

OPW FUELING COMPONENTS ACQUIRES ENVIRON

CINCINNATI, OH. — Continuing the trend of acquisitions across the petroleum industry and its suppliers, OPW Fueling Components has acquired Environ Holdings, manufacturer of the Environ-branded piping and fuel delivery systems.

The price for the deal was not disclosed.

Smithfield, North Carolina-based Environ, founded in 1990, manufactures components for the fuel delivery system connecting the underground fuel storage tanks to a vehicle's fuel tank including flexible coaxial fuel pipe and fittings, liquid tight pipe entry fittings, liquid tight and testable containment sumps and impermeable fueling hoses.

"Our mission at OPW is to provide the most effective environmental solutions in the world for our customers," stated OPW president Craig NcNeill, "and to that end, we saw in Environ the same kind of commitment to customer and quality and knew that by combining forces we'd create an unbeatable team capable of developing even better solutions to meet our customers' needs."

"Just like P&G bought Gillette, OPW bought Environ, a match made in heaven," said Jim Walton, OPW, Cincinnati. "What Environ does every day is wake up thinking about pipe, double-wall pipe. Now we have a complete system, a parallel system, and it brings two strengths together. Now we offer a complete solution."

OPW Fueling Components, founded in 1892, is a division of Dover.

Originally published in the December 2006 issue of O&A Marketing News.
Copyright 2006 by KAL Publications Inc.