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April 8, 2016

J&S Oil to be acquired by Massachusetts-based energy company

The assets of J&S Oil — eight Xpress Stop convenience stores with gas stations, two Express Lube auto service stations, three Ultra Clean car washes, a wholesale fuel supply division and a transportation logistics business — have been acquired by Nouria Energy Corp. of Worcester, Mass.

As part of the transaction, the company’s retail heating business is also being sold to Augusta Fuel Co.

The employee-owned J&S has been in operation since 1972, when John and Sonja Babb started their 44-year journey with a single station. The Babbs have been recognized numerous times by the local business community, including being honored by the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce as the 2013 Business Persons of the Year. In 2002, J&S Oil was named the New England ESOP Association "Company of the Year."

“We were at sort of a crossroads of growth or retraction,” John Babb told the Portland Press Herald. “Growth would have required much more capital and expertise than what we currently had at hand. When this opportunity presented, we saw the potential and the opportunities it would bring. We felt it was in our best interest to sell.”

Babb told the Press Herald that the employees of J&S will be retained as part of the transition, and that both he and Sonja will continue as directors of the J&S Division of Nouria Energy.

Nouria Energy Corp. owns and operates 90 regional convenience stores and gas stations in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and supplies fuel to 140 sites operating under the Shell, Irving and Gulf brands, as well as unbranded fuel across New England.

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