A Chicago-area start-up announced plans last week to become a collector and rerefiner of used lubricating oil and a marketer of lubricants made from that stream. Voyager Petroleum Inc. said it expects to complete acquisitions to create the basis for that business early next year.
We should close on the first two acquisitions in January and get everything ramped up pretty quickly, President Sebastien DuFort told Lube Report yesterday.
Based in Hinsdale, Ill., the company was previously named Voyager One Inc. and focused on research and development of film for electronic cameras. DuFort said the company obtained a patent and licensed that technology to another company and decided that oil recycling offered better opportunities.
We like the environmental play on it, and we think its a fragmented industry right now, DuFort said. If you look at it, there are just a couple big [rerefiners] but we think there is a lot of potential for mom-and-pop companies.
To reflect its change in direction, the company announced Thursday that it had changed its name to Voyager Petroleum. Officials declined to identify the companies targeted for acquisition but described them as middle market petroleum and lubricant companies that refine, blend, bottle and distribute lubricants for the factory fill and aftermarket segments.
Voyager is incorporated and its stock is sold over the counter.