Tulsa World: Sinclair selling gas outlets

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Sinclair selling gas outlets
Four in the state are part of the 30 nationwide that are being eliminated.

A Sinclair gasoline station on 81st Street near U.S. 169 is one of three metro Tulsa outlets the company has put up for sale. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer
Published: 11/11/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 11/11/2009 4:49 AM

Sinclair Oil Corp., which announced the sale of its Tulsa refinery last month, also is unloading the three remaining company-owned gasoline stations in the metro area, a broker confirmed Tuesday.

The privately held, Salt Lake City-based company is seeking a buyer for its Tulsa Sinclair stations at 10712 E. 81st St. and 16141 E. Skelly Drive, as well as a Broken Arrow location. Sinclair also is selling its Salina station on Oklahoma 20 in Mayes County, according to reports.

The four outlets are among about 30 Sinclair-branded stations on the sale block companywide. Energy Exchange Group, a broker with U.S. headquarters in New York, was retained to help find buyers so Sinclair can exit the retail business.

"These are the last of the stores," said Phil Boyd, managing director of Energy Exchange. "They started this process on their own, prior to hiring our firm and offered those stores to their distributor network."

In fact, Sinclair started off trying to sell all of its 90 stores nationwide, Boyd said. Many of those stores are already sold, although some still carry the Sinclair brand and logo.

Sinclair's move out of retail follows an industry trend over the past three years. Other major oil companies, including BP and ConocoPhillips, have eliminated or are curtailing their retail operations.

"That's the shift," Boyd said. "You get bigger profit margins on supplying or cooking the oil. Retail is a lot smaller profit margin."

Sinclair also is selling stores in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Nebraska. The bid deadline is Dec. 15.

Buyers will be able to keep the well-known branding image — a dinosaur symbol or change everything.

"This is the best thing about our sale," Boyd said. "They're letting us offer it up with the brand or without, or for alternative use."

The latter option means a buyer could clear the site and start over with another type of business. The Energy Exchange has sold store or gas station sites that became CVS, Walgreen's and Popeye's stores, Boyd said.

Last month, Sinclair announced it will sell its 75,000-barrel per day Tulsa refinery that it bought from Texaco in 1983. Dallas-based Holly Corp. will pay $128.5 million to Sinclair and combine the plant's operations with the former Sunoco Inc. refinery — located nearby in west Tulsa — that it bought this year for $65 million.

The Sinclair refinery deal could close as early as December. With the combination, Holly will provide as much as 50,000 barrels per day into Sinclair's branded and unbranded marketing network.

Sinclair’s Oklahoma stations up for sale

Store	Address	City
No. 3529	10712 E. 81st St.	Tulsa
No. 3531	16141 E. Skelly Drive	Tulsa
No. 3533	828 Elm Place	Broken Arrow
No. 3538	Oklahoma 20	Salina

Rod Walton 581-8457
rod.walton@tulsaworld.com By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Sinclair wants to sell company-owned gas stations," which was published on 11/10/2009.

	Report Comment DeeDee, (11/10/2009 7:17:58 PM) It looks as if Holly won't be as generous with keeping the Sinclair employees as they were with Sunoco employees. Sixty-five Sinclair employees are being let go. My husband is one of them. He's not extra office help or upper management, either. He's a blue collar worker. He's falls just under the age requirements for retirement so he has to find another job. We're between a rock and a hard place. He's on his computer right now looking for jobs. This is tough.
	Report Comment Mar, Tulsa (11/10/2009 9:02:04 PM) Join the club DeeDee. I've been unemployed for a year. To make matters worse I'm 61. Good luck to you and your husband.
	Report Comment DeeDee, (11/11/2009 2:35:55 PM) Thanks so much, Mar. Good luck to you, too.
	Report Comment SS_Hippy, Tulsa (11/11/2009 3:17:32 PM) Dino!
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (11/11/2009 6:17:57 PM) DeeDee Sorry to hear of your plight. Stinks I know, maybe knowing people do care will help.
	Report Comment ACE, Tulsa (11/12/2009 11:30:53 AM) DeeDee, it seems I remember you voiced your concerns in an earlier article about the sale of the refineries, or am I mistaken? I wish good luck to you and your husband, and also to you Mar. Being unemployed stinks. I'm fortunate not to be there right now, but I've been there before a few times.

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