Wyoming-based Quality Petroleum, a distributor of Chevron and Shell lubricants, has been acquired by Lubrication Services LLC (LSi), of Oklahoma City, in a deal that closed Aug. 1. The purchase includes Quality Petroleum’s offices, warehouse, trucks, equipment and bulk storage facilities in Casper and Gillette, Wyo. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Bill Rutherford, vice president of Lubrication Services, told Lube Report that although Quality Petroleum is a smaller company, the two have similar operations and customer lists, with both specializing in serving up lubricants for the oil and gas drilling industry, such as natural gas engine oils, along with commercial and other industrial lubes. Quality Petroleum sells about 1 million gallons per year of lubricants, and 125 million gallons of fuels, he added. LSi already had some sales into Wyoming, but this purchase gives it a much bigger footprint in the state.
“We’d been hoping to situate ourselves more into the market of Gillette, because there’s a lot of oil drilling activity there and in the region south of Casper,” Rutherford said, pointing out that Wyoming is second only to Texas now in the number of drilling rigs running. “It’s a good fit because that business is our bread and butter. Our main business is servicing drilling rigs, natural gas gathering operations and gas plants.”
Quality Petroleum’s former owner, Ken Eickhoff, is retiring after many years with the company, Rutherford added. Most of the Wyoming company’s employees remain, and it will continue offering Shell and Chevron products in Wyoming. Its name will change to LSi.
LSi has has distributed lubricants for 20 years, principally in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain region. Lube brands it carries include ExxonMobil, Citgo, Conoco-Phillips and Summit Industrial; it also sells heavy-duty coolants from Dow Chemical. With the acquisition, it now has 17 facilities (including six district offices) in seven states.
LSi’s parent company is Houston-headquartered TEPPCO, a $5 billion company that is one of the largest U.S. operators of common carrier pipelines for crude, petroleum products and LP gases.