By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
Officials with an Independence, Kan.-based oil company are staying mum about why the fuel supply to several gasoline outlets in the Four-State Area was severed earlier this week.
“At this point in time, our official comment is no comment,” said Scott Anderson, a spokesman for Crescent Oil. “Until we get some more water under the bridge, that’s really all we can say.”
Operators of several local retailers told the Globe that they did not receive their regularly scheduled fuel deliveries Wednesday. They also said they received little warning or explanation from Crescent officials.
“They won’t give us many answers,” said Jamie Howard, the manager at Gorilla Express, 2401 S. Rouse Ave. in Pittsburg, Kan. “We’re just going to keep running our business and keep customers happy as opposed to worrying about what a million-dollar company is doing.”
Gas outlets in Joplin, Neosho and Asbury in Missouri, and Pittsburg, Frontenac and Weir in Kansas were among those affected by absent deliveries.
Crescent is a wholesale supplier of various branded gasolines. Its Web site bills the company as “one of the largest distributors of Conoco-Phillips fuels in the Mid Continent.” The company also provides Shell, Valero and British Petroleum gasolines.
Earlier this month, a Texas-based holding company acquired Crescent Oil, which previously was a privately held company. Titan Global Holdings Inc., of Richardson, Texas, bought 650,000 shares of Crescent stock and issued warrants to purchase an additional 600,000, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A spokesman for Titan Global Holdings declined to comment on the fuel-supply situation when reached by phone Thursday.
“We’re working through business issues,” said Scott Hensell, chief financial officer of Titan Global. “As soon as we have information to release, we will.”
Neither Hensell nor Anderson offered to address speculation by the gas retailers that either Crescent or Titan Global was preparing to file for bankruptcy.
A Globe search of bankruptcy court records online in Kansas and Texas did not reveal any such filings as of Thursday.
“We’ve been hearing (Crescent) is bankrupt, but we haven’t been told anything,” said Mike Rakestraw, the owner of Truck N Travel plaza at U.S. highways 69 and 400 south of Pittsburg. “They haven’t been able to give us any fuel.”
Rakestraw said his business spent most of Wednesday unable to supply fuel or run credit-card and debit-card purchases, because the card machines are owned by Crescent.
“It’s quite a big deal,” he said. “It’s holding credit cards up and everything. We’ve used Crescent Oil for 15 years. We’ve had other stores over the years, and they’ve always been real good people.”
A quarterly report filed by Titan Global indicates that the company has lost nearly $8 million over the past year.
According to a Jan. 20 quarterly report filed with the SEC by Titan Global, the company is reporting a loss of more than $6.58 million for the quarter that ended Nov. 30, 2008. The company reported a profit of more than $1.32 million for the same period in 2007.
In stock trading quoted on Pink Sheets, Titan Global is down from a 52-week high of 84 cents per share to a low of 7 cents per share as of Thursday.
Most of the gasoline retailers reported that they had reached temporary or alternative agreements with other fuel suppliers, and that business operations had returned to normal by Thursday.
The silence from Crescent has been frustrating for some retailers, like Kay Clayton, who was left scrambling to find a way to resupply the bone-dry tanks at the Asbury Quik Mart.
“We’ve been out of gas since Tuesday,” she said. “We don’t have fuel, and we can’t take debit or credit cards either. We’re cash only on inside sales.”
Clayton said she was hoping to be resupplied by today.
“Hopefully, we’ll be in business (today),” she said.
Crescent Oil
Crescent Oil has 340 distribution locations in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois and Louisiana. Crescent also operates 24 retail stores, including Gorilla Express in Pittsburg and the Oak Tree Mart in Neosho, according to its Web site.
