The companies said they also reached a blending and packaging agreement in which ARG will continue to blend and package most of the Brad Penn Lubricants at its Bradford, Pa., facility. ARG currently has capacity to refine 2,400 barrels per day of lubricant base stocks at its Bradford refinery, including 2,100 b/d of API Group I and 300 b/d of Group II.

D-A will continue to supply the Brad Penn distributor network with its lubricant products.

Mike Protogere, CEO of D-A Lubricant said the company will acquire three sales people and a technical manager as part of the deal. We hopefully will be able to build their brand, Protogere told Lube Report. Thats one thing they said they desired, to have the brand live on and grow. We have a pretty extensive sales force throughout the country, and we have five distribution points besides here in Lebanon [in Indiana], so we can cover a larger area more efficiently. D-A has a 35-person sales force.

One key synergy is that ARG refines heavy grades of crude oil, he said. As a result, its plant yields a relatively high portion of heavy base oils, which are used in lubricants such as heavy-duty engine oils and gear oils. That provides us some efficiencies. Protogere said heavy duty is probably ARGs strongest suit. Gear oils would definitely be something theyre strong in because of their bright stock, he said. Theyre pretty well aligned with us as far as our core business goes.

The two companies have known each other for years, Protogere said. We have a blending agreement because theyre more efficient at certain things than we are, and were a little more efficient at other things, he said. So theyre still going to get a considerable amount of blending and packaging through their plant.

D-A President and Chief Financial Officer Gisela Miller said D-A intends to further the market share of the Brad Penn Lubricants product line, including its Penn Grade 1 high-performance oils. The synergy between D-A and Brad Penn advances both brands for much anticipated

market penetration throughout North America and beyond, Miller said.

This agreement enables ARG to focus on what it does best – refining quality base oils and the blending and packaging of lubricants, Jeannine Schoenecker, president and chief operating officer of ARG, said in a news release. The blending and packaging agreement also contributes to our long-term strategic plan to internally blend a large majority of the base oils we produce in our refining process.

Founded in 1881, ARGs Bradford refinery is the oldest continuously operating refinery in the United States, and the only remaining refinery exclusively processing Pennsylvania-grade crude oil. American Refining Group acquired the facility from Witco Corp. in 1997, and launched the Brad Penn brand that year as well.

D-A Lubricant is a privately owned heavy duty, and industrial lubricant compounder/blender. The company offers a broad line of products and services to U.S. and international end-users, select distributors and Original Equipment Manufacturers. It also provides technical assistance, proprietary tribology formulation and fluid testing capabilities.