BP Station Operators Sue Fuel Supplier

BOSTON -- Several New England BP stations still have no gas to sell, and 30 of them -- primarily in Massachusetts -- have decided to sue gasoline supplier Green Valley Oil LLC in an effort to recover lost profits and other damages, according to the Boston Globe.

"I'm very angry, and more scared," Robert Cahoon, operator of a BP station on Bridge Street in Dedham, Mass., told the newspaper. "I have a wife, I have two daughters, and as of right now I have no source of income."

Cahoon added that Rhode Island-based Green Valley owes him $87,000 in lost profits and a security deposit.

More than 100 BP owners have not received gas shipments for the past several weeks. Many have had no gas for three weeks or more. The problem stems from the bankruptcy of Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc. (GPMI) -- sub-lessor of the BP station leases -- declaring bankruptcy. Green Valley subsequently said it was going out of business as well.

According to the news outlet, BP was expected to have a new gas supplier by today, but a deal has yet to materialize.

However, the news source reported that GPMI has enlisted four suppliers to furnish the BP stations with gas. One is Lehigh Gas Corp., which could take over 106 of Green Valley's gas station accounts.

Some BP stations have already begun receiving gas shipments, the Globe reported. A hearing to determine if Green Valley had enough money to pay the BP station owners was postponed to Friday and was shifted from Suffolk Superior Court to the U.S. District Court in Boston, according to the newspaper.

Nancy Reimer, attorney at LeClair Ryan, the law firm representing the gas station operators, called the change of hearting venues a "delay tactic."

Getty Realty Corp. is the owner of the BP stations. It had subleased them to GPMI under a master lease, and the properties were subleased again to individual BP operators.