Last updated on August 25th, 2022 at 02:33 pm
ArcLight Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on energy infrastructure investments, has officially purchased Gulf Oil from Cumberland Farms. The purchase was conducted through Chelsea Petroleum Products Holdings, an affiliate of ArcLight. The purchase was informally announced several months ago but was delayed until federal review.
Gulf will maintain its headquarters in Massachusetts and retain its name and limited partnership structure. This transition is not expected to disrupt existing practices or agreements.
In a related transaction, Blue Hills Fuels, another ArcLight affiliate, purchased Gulf’s Assured Dealers business. The Assured Dealers business collects rent from more than 200 owned or leased, but non-operated, independently franchised sites under the Gulf or Mobil brand that also purchase branded product under contract from Gulf.
“Gulf is well-established among consumers as a top-tier brand and in recent years has experienced significant growth of marketed volumes,” said Dan Revers, managing partner and co-founder of ArcLight. “The ownership of a major petroleum wholesaler and terminal operator represents a significant opportunity in today’s energy industry and is a key component of our investment strategy.”
Gulf is a terminal operator and wholesaler of refined petroleum products, including heating oil, diesel fuel and gasoline and marketed 3.3 billion gallons of products in 2014. Gulf owns and operates a comprehensive network of 12 proprietary refined product storage terminals, with connectivity via the Buckeye and Laurel pipelines as well as barge access that allows Gulf to source product from Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and all of the major U.S. refining markets. Gulf’s extensive distribution network includes gasoline retail centers, wholesale distributors and commercial and industrial accounts.
Jerry Ashcroft will be the president and CEO of Gulf. Ashcroft has held executive leadership roles at Buckeye (2009-14), Colonial Pipeline (2000-06, 2008-09) and JP Energy Partners (2014-15). He is a decorated major in the U.S. Marine Corps and holds a bachelor of science degree from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from Goizueta Business School, Emory University.
Also on the leadership team is Mike Campbell, CFO, who previously held the role of CFO at Crestwood Midstream Partners and Crestwood Equity Partners, the general partner of CMLP (2012-15) and Inergy Midstream (2003-12). Ron Sabia, current Gulf president, and other members of the senior executive team will remain in key leadership roles with the business.
