ORANGE, CA. —H&S Energy LLC has acquired Andretti Petroleum Group, one of the largest convenience retail and fuels distribution companies on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest. The purchase price for the deal, which was announced in March, was not disclosed.
Included in the acquisition are Andretti's approximately 170 convenience retail stores, fuels distribution, cardlock, fleet card, commercial fueling, car wash, lubricants, and transportation businesses operating in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
H&S had approximately 160 convenience stores prior to deal, so the purchase of the Andretti sites will double their c-store operations.
Announcing the deal, H&S Founder and CEO Sal Hassan stated, "We are honored to take on this great portfolio of retail sites, wholesale distributorship, cardlocks, lubricants, and transportation assets. We believe the people on both ends of this transaction, when put together, will bring great synergies and help take H&S to the next level."
Andretti Petroleum Group was founded in 1997 when racing icons Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, long-time Andretti advisor John Caponigro, and Texaco executive M.J. Castelo launched a startup Texaco wholesale business in Northern California. The company opened its first Texaco station in downtown San Francisco in 1998 with an Andretti SpeedMart c-store, an Andretti Winning Finish car wash, a Burger King QSR, and the first Starbucks built in a convenience store.
The success of that c-store led to the expansion of the company's service stations and convenience store chain and Andretti Petroleum began acquiring smaller jobbers in Northern California. In 2001, the company began expanding into Monterey County by purchasing a chain of c-stores and dealer operations.
In 2005, Andretti expanded further north by acquiring of Humboldt Petroleum's 16 company-operated stores.
In 2017, Andretti Petroleum doubled in size by purchasing Colvin Oil Company of Grants Pass, Oregon. Included in that deal were Colvin's 54 service stations, contracts to supply approximately 100 open dealers, three bulk plants, a fleet and commercial fueling operation operating on the CFN and Pacific Pride networks, a lubricants business, and a transportation company.
The purchase of Colvin Oil also brought Andretti into the Pacific Northwest markets where it continued to grow, acquiring Stein Oil of Oregon City and, in 2021, Sheldon Oil of Tillamook.
H&S Energy has been on its own path of growth. Sal Hassan founded the company in 1996 with one gasoline station and convenience store in Southern California. In the last 28 years, the company has grown to over 160 stations across California and northern Nevada marketing under the Shell, Chevron, and Texaco gasoline brands as well as the ExtraMile c-store brand and its proprietary Power Market brand. The company recently partnered with ChargePoint to begin offering EV charging at its sites.
M.J. Castelo, CEO and Managing Member of Andretti Petroleum Group, commented, "We are delighted to transact with H&S Energy as the new steward of our enterprise. Our companies share similar stories, starting with single sites, then growing into formidable players in our industry. This transaction will be a win for all stakeholders."
CFCA FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CEC
SACRAMENTO, CA. — The California Fuels & Convenience Alliance has filed a lawsuit against the California Energy Commission, challenging the agency's rulemaking process for Senate Bill X1-2, the California Gas Price Gouging and Transparency Law.
SBX1-2 was the brainchild of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had asked for a special session of the California Legislature in the Fall of 2022 to consider a windfall profits tax on oil companies. When Newsom could not get legislators on board with the idea, he pivoted and suggested a penalty on oil companies that were engaged in what he called "price gouging."
When economists suggested that the state should investigate why fuel prices were so high in California, Newsom instead recruited State Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) to introduce SBX1-2.
Under the terms of SBX1-2, the California Energy Commission was authorized to set a maximum gross gasoline refining margin as well as a penalty for refiners that exceeded it. The bill also created a new data collection authority for the state and created an independent division to monitor petroleum markets "and flag potential market manipulation."
The legislation also "Requires an assessment of transportation fuel demand and discussion of methods to ensure an adequate, affordable, and reliable fuel supply as the state transitions away from petroleum fuels."
SBX1-2 was rushed through the California Legislature as an emergency measure and intense political pressure from the Governor's office was put in place to make sure it passed quickly, according to Sacramento observers.
The next step for the new law was its enactment by the CEC, and it is this process that the CFCA is challenging in court.
The lawsuit calls the CEC's rulemaking process "rushed," noting that it was passed within five days, with three of those days being a three-day holiday weekend.
The CFCA suit notes that SBX1-2 "was enacted last year to address gasoline price spikes and what Californians pay at the pump. However, the emergency rulemaking is only going to make things worse."
CFCA Governmental Affairs Director Alessandra Magnasco explained, "CFCA supports transparency, but the emergency rulemaking is likely to push participants out of the California transportation fuel market entirely. That will reduce supply and make consumers even more dependent on a dwindling number of in-state refineries. That, in turn, will increase prices, harming consumers and small businesses, which is the opposite of what SBX1-2 is supposed to achieve."
She added, "It is shrinking supply when demand is not shrinking."
The CFCA noted that they — along with many other organizations — had submitted comments "during the rushed rulemaking process" raising concerns and asking for a collaborative approach to the enactment of the law.
Instead, the "CEC brushed those concerns and requests aside and instead adopted an entirely anti-democratic process with this rulemaking by claiming emergency action for a rulemaking that is not an emergency by any definition of the word. That kind of process makes for bad policy decisions and outcomes."
CFCA's lawsuit also contends that the CEC failed to evaluate the environmental impacts of its rulemaking under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a process required by law.
"By circumventing the CEQA analysis process, the state is making hugely consequential decisions that will without a doubt negatively impact the California fuels landscape and lead to higher emissions," noted the CFCA.
The CFCA summarized, "The CEC is creating an energy crisis that will disproportionately hurt our most vulnerable residents. CFCA will not sit idly by as California residents' standard of living and our state's economy are flippantly put in jeopardy for the sake of a political agenda."
EASTERN SIERRA PROPANE SOLD TO FERRELLGAS
BISHOP, CA. — Eastern Sierra Propane, based in Bishop, CA., has sold out to Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. The purchase price for the company, which served both residential and commercial customers, was not disclosed.
The sale adds approximately 5,500 customers to Ferrellgas' business in the Sierras.
Eastern Sierra was founded in 1993 by Tom Sigler and Rudy Forster in Bishop, CA. Initially, the company was run out of Tom Sigler's house, and propane storage was obtained by using a 12,000-gallon tank at a customer's location in exchange for installing vapor meters on his gas dryers. Within a few months, it became very clear that the company needed a much larger space and their own propane storage and leased a nearby property and installed their first 30,000-gallon propane tank. Over the years, Tom Sigler subsequently acquired Rudy Forster's 50% ownership interest, and Tom's son, Jason Sigler, joined the company in 1998.
