Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com February 1, 2016 • Worcester Business Journal 17 We are a Preferred SBA Lender As a preferred lender, St. Mary's Credit Union can now offer small businesses the full range of SBA loan products through a streamlined, faster loan approval process. To earn the Preferred Lender status, St. Mary's Credit Union demonstrated a commitment to the small business community. Want to learn more? Call Nabil at (508) 490-6747 ARMAND FERNANDEZ Vice President, Small Business Lending SARAH DAY Commercial Loan Officer and Portfolio Manager NABIL FAROOQ Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Lending Officer Here to service your needs! www.bankatsmcu.com | 866.585.7628 Preferred Lender with more money in their pockets, he said, the strategy is to "rely less upon gas. Make gas be the thing that makes you need to go to the convenience story but have Cumberland Farms be the thing that makes you want to go there." At the very least, Nicholas said, the company now has plenty of money to keep upgrading its stores, and it could have the capacity to open locations more quickly or even buy up another chain. According to Cumberland Farms' web- site, more than 200 of its nearly 600 loca- tions are new concept stores, with freshly prepared foods, shake machines and an array of groceries. Cumberland Farms has been owned by the Haseotes family since it built its first store in 1962, and its current CEO is Ari Haseotes. It now has locations all over New England and down the East Coast. In 1986, the company bought the Gulf Oil brand name from Chevron, and in 1993, it joined with Catamount Petroleum to form Gulf Oil LP. Last year, Forbes put the Cumberland Gulf Group's total revenue at $16.5 billion. Gulf: Revenue opportunities Gulf Oil now owns and operates 12 storage terminals for refined oil prod- ucts in the Northeast, and there are more than 2,300 Gulf branded gas sta- tions. The company distributed 3.3 bil- lion gallons of gasoline, heating oil, die- sel fuel and other oil products in 2014, according to a statement from ArcLight. Mark LaCour, the director of Texas oil and gas consultancy Modal Point, said the acquisition could be good for ArcLight because a legal change permit- ting the export of U.S. crude oil could create more demand for storage termi- nals. He said another valuable piece of the deal is the Gulf name, which is well known, particularly to older customers. "Gulf has a lot of brand recognition," Lacour said. ArcLight did not return calls for this story. Under its new ownership, Sabia said, Gulf will now have more potential to make its own acquisitions. It's also like- ly to find ways to work together with other energy firms under ArcLight ownership, he said. While the historically low prices of oil are a concern for oil producers, Sabia said they're actually beneficial for a company like Gulf Oil that buys oil products from upstream companies and distributes them through retail and wholesale channels. "It makes folks more likely to consume, which for us is a good thing," he said. Sabia said Gulf Oil has already gone from having branded locations in just 11 Northeastern states in 2005 to 34 states today. Its unbranded sales to private- label distributors and big box stores have more than doubled over the past decade. Looking to the near future, Sabia said the company's priority will be to expand its operations within its home base in the Northeast. "We're going to want to grow around the assets of the company," he said. "We want to win close to home first, where we own terminal assets." n P H O T O S / C O U R T E S Y

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