INDEPENDENCE — After several days amid rumors, Independence-based Crescent Oil Company Inc., a fuel supplier for six Midwest states, has filed for bankruptcy.
The company filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Kansas City, Kan., on Saturday.
In court documents, the company said it and its subsidiaries had a total of $85.3 million in assets and $88.8 million in liabilities at the time of its bankruptcy filing.
Lisa A. Epps of the law firm Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP in Kansas City, Mo., is handling Crescent Oil’s proceedings as it goes through the bankruptcy process.
Established in 1987, Crescent Oil distributes fuel to more than 340 locations in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Louisiana. According to the company’s website, Crescent Oil is a wholesale supplier of Conoco-Phillips, Shell, and Valero gasoline.
In court documents, the company listed its 20 largest unsecured creditors, which includes (based on volume of debt owed to the creditors):
• Shell/Equilon of Atlanta, Ga. — $6,447,701.74
• Kansas Department of Revenue, Motor Fuel Tax Section — $4,294,456.80
• Conoco Phillips, Bartlesville, Okla. — $3,575,201.25
• CHS, Inc., Branded, Kansas City, Mo. — $915,223.98
• Diamond-Valero-Branded, Alma, Mich. — $378.896.72
• Shell Contract, Atlanta, Ga. — $332,339.14
• Northville Product Services — $330,739.09
• Southern Company NLR., Inc., North Little Rock, Ark. — $296,082.05.
• Gary-Williams Energy Corp.,. Oklahoma City, Okla. — $207,908.33
• Hoidale Co., Inc., Wichita, Kan. – $179,396.44
• Placid Refining Co., Inc., Port Allen, La. — $169,479.00
• Partner’s Plus, Independence, Kan. — $135,022.10
• C Store Investors, LCC, Kansas City, Mo. — $124,078.10
• Block Asset Management, Kansas City, Mo. - $111,744.54
• Carter Transportation, Mission, Kan. — $78,663.64
• Murphy Oil USA, Inc., El Dorado, Ark. — $78.326.48
• Valero-Dia/Sham Takeovers, Alma, Mich. — $73,509.00
• Blackburn Partners, LLC., West Hollywood, Calif. — $72,691.99.
Like the rest of the petroleum industry, which has undergone a rollercoaster of revenues and profits in the past several years, Crescent Oil has faced a topsy-turvy financial sheet. Court documents show that the company had $12.8 million in estimated losses last year and $3.5 million in 2007. The 2008 losses, which came on $910 million in revenue, were blamed on “extremely volatile fuel prices and margins,” as well as more than $2 million in losses from acquiring and developing new convenience stores. Higher interest rates and financing costs also were cited as reasons for the financial losses.
The bankruptcy filing comes after Midwest gas retailers, including many in the Montgomery County, announced that they were not receiving scheduled deliveries of fuel from Crescent Oil.
Even though the company was stopping its fuel flow to those retailers last week, the company was still holding public relations efforts to promote a new fuel program. Crescent Oil and two other companies — ICM and Poet Ethanol — held grand openings of NewGen Fuel, at retail locations in Topeka and Wichita two weeks ago. NewGen Fuel is the first renewable fuel station program in the country implemented with a privately owned site.
Along with the normal fare of petroleum products, the stations also offered e10, e20, e30 and e85, which are ethanol-blended fuels.
It’s unknown what Crescent Oil’s bankruptcy will have on the NewGen Fuel program.
