PECKVILLE, Pa. -- Santarelli & Sons Co.--a Peckville, Pa.-based heating oil company that also owns two gas stations with convenience stores--has doubled its heating oil territory and customer accounts with the recent purchase of the majority interests of Airline Petroleum, Dunmore, Pa., reported The Times-Tribune.
Airline Petroleum also sold the propane portion of its business to Keystone Propane Service Inc., Throop, Pa., the report said.
The sales mark the continued compression of the business interests of the family of Joseph Gentile, of Factoryville, Pa., said the report. In 2012, the family sold Dunmore Oil Co. and JoJo Oil Co. and its chain of 23 Joe's Kwik Marts convenience stores to Lehigh Gas Partners of Allentown, Pa., for $29 million.
The transaction also represents further consolidation of the region's fuel oil trade. Santarelli and Sons acquired five other oil companies in the last six years, Ken Santarelli, vice president of Santarelli & Sons' fuel oil business, told the newspaper.
The current acquisition included six trucks and bulk storage facilities in Tobyhanna and Factoryville, Santarelli added. The company now has 60 employees and 24 delivery trucks and will expand its wholesale heating oil trade.
"We are now the biggest in the area," Santarelli said. "You will see the name Santarelli much more now."
"There has definitely been a trend toward consolidation in the heating oil industry the last few years," John Kulick, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association, told the paper. "There has been a trend toward buyouts by larger companies of smaller companies."
Fernando "Fred" Santarelli, of Blakely, Pa., started the family's oil business in 1975. The family also operates Pop Pop's Mini Marts in Blakely and Mayfield, Pa.
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