MIDLAND, Texas -- United Fuel & Energy Corp., a distributor of gasoline, diesel, propane and lubricant products to customers in the rural markets of the Southwest and Southcentral United States, said that is has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Queen Oil & Gas Co., Carlsbad, N.M. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of first-quarter 2006.
Queen Oil & Gas distributes gasoline, diesel, propane and lubricants to customers in southeastern New Mexico. Queen provides services to agricultural, ranching, oilfield, [image-nocss] mining, commercial and consumer accounts. Its assets include four bulk plants and eight cardlock sites located in Roswell, Artesia, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Dexter and Mayhill, N.M.
Queen has unaudited revenues of approximately $27 million for 2004 and approximately $32.4 million for the ten months ended Oct. 31, 2005.
Chuck McArthur, United Fuel & Energy's president and CEO, said, "United Fuel & Energy continues its strategy of organic growth and selective acquisitions that meet our objectives. The Queen acquisition is an excellent fit in our expansion plan to both increase our market share in attractive areas where we operate, as well as extend our geographic coverage further into New Mexico's rural regions west of our current coverage area. Additionally, Queen's customer base includes some of our customers operating outside our existing markets, as well as some customers outside the oil service industry, which supports our objective to further diversify our customer base."
Paul Queen, vice president of family-owned Queen Oil & Gas, told the Current-Argus that the distributorship has about 40 employees who will see no impact from the acquisition. They're still employed, he said. He added that the family will continue to own the five Drifters convenience stores in southeastern New Mexico, and other interests.
Previous to this deal, United Fuel & Energy's most recent acquisition was the purchase of the petroleum marketing assets of Clark Oil Co., Ada, Okla., in June 2005. The deal included five publicly accessible cardlocks and nine private unattended cardlocks in several southeastern Oklahoma locations and fuel and lubricant distribution operations. For 2004, Clark had unaudited revenues of approximately $20.9 million.
Midland, Texas-based United Fuel & Energy distributes gasoline, diesel, propane and lubricant products primarily in rural markets of Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. It represents the consolidation of four companies, the most significant of which is the Eddins-Walcher Co. United Fuel & Energy conducts its operations through 16 branch locations and 71 cardlock fuel sites.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.