American Refining Group, Inc.
By Neil McElwee, 2009
American Refining Group, Inc. (ARG) is co-owned by Harry Halloran and based outside of Philadelphia in West Conshohocken. Halloran is the Chief Executive Officer of ARG. In March 1997, the American Refining Group purchased the former Kendall Refinery in Bradford. The firm announced in August of that year ARG would market a new brand of motor oil, Brad Penn Oil. A 100% pure Pennsylvania Grade Motor Oil, Brad Penn is the last and only one of its kind. Halloran invested heavily in a new packaging line and funded an extensive national advertising campaign promoting the Brad Penn brand. In 1998, Halloran announced ARG signed an agreement with Gulf Oil Limited Partnership to manufacture and package Gulf Motor Oil as a private label product. In 1999, ARG announced it sold the two refining properties it owned and operated in Indianola, near Pittsburgh, and Hartford, Illinois. In 2,000, ARG bought the extensive oil, gas and mineral leases of Pennsylvania General Energy Corporation in McKean and Elk County.
Under the gifted leadership of President and Chief Operating Officer, Harvey Golubock, the Kendall Refinery survived the start-up years and began to show a profit. Golubock was a former Witco Vice President of Sales for refinery products. Golubock knows the lube oil markets of the world thoroughly. ARG purchased Valvoline’s Railroad Engine Oil Business. This significant purchase in 2,000 gave ARG the right to make and market zinc-free engine oils and related products for the heavy diesel engine market under the Valvoline and Ashland brands. ARG announced later in 2,000 it had agreed to assume total marketing responsibility for Gulf branded products in eleven states. These responsibilities included the full range of marketing activity including order entry, sales, product-sourcing, development, distribution and billing. In a venture with a Chinese firm, ARG began to market refinery products in China.
In July 2003, ARG placed its new gasoline isomeritization unit on line allowing the Bradford Refinery to make a full range of gasoline from 87 to 93 octane. The ARG Refinery sells all of its gasoline output to United Refining of Warren.
In 2005, ARG purchased J. L. Geer & Sons of Warren. This trucking firm was renamed AR Trucking and provides a critical crude oil gathering service in the region. In 2008, ARG placed a new $20,000,000 hydrotreater on line at the refinery site. This major capital improvement allowed ARG to produce diesel fuel that met and surpassed the new ultra low sulfur requirements imposed by the federal government. Concurrently, the hydrotreater improved the quality of ARG’s base lube oil stock.
The Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission recognized ARG’s Bradford refinery as the oldest continuously operating refinery in the country with an historical marker erected in 2006. Today, ARG can refine over 10,000 barrels of crude a day at its Bradford plant. The firm has more than 70 Brad Penn distributors and makes lube oils under the Gulf, Valvoline and Castrol brands as well as its own Brad Penn brand. ARG, with its 100% Pure Pennsylvania Oil lube stock, has found a prominent marketing niche in racing circles with its special Green line of Brad Penn oils. The oil industry in Bradford is doing very well, thanks to the courage and belief of two Pennsylvania oil industry giants, Harry Halloran and Harvey Golubock.