American Refining Group Inc. offered a response to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article circulated for reprinting by The Associated Press and appearing in the Monday edition of The Era.
The story focused on Resources Preservation Inc. (formerly known as ARG Resources), which is partnering with a Canada-based company in a new approach to funding the cost of plugging oil wells. ARG notes the Post-Gazette reporters who worked on the story inaccurately described Resources as a “subsidiary” of ARG.
“Harry Halloran is the principal owner of both the refinery and Resources, but the shareholders, directors, officers and business operations of these two corporations are separate and distinct,” said Jon Giberson, ARG president and chief operating officer. “Harry is well known in the Bradford area as the creative entrepreneur who in 1997 purchased the Bradford refinery from Witco and proceeded to revive its operations. So it isn’t exactly surprising that people sometimes muddle that important distinction.”
Giberson explained that after turning the refinery and its packaging plant around, Halloran decided to invest in the supply side of the local oil industry.
“The article suggests Harry’s investment was intended simply to supply feedstock to the refinery, but it was a separate, vital business concern,” Giberson said. “When Resources was operating, ARG bought crude from the company at market prices, just as it does from other local producers.”
Resources was hard-hit like many producers when oil prices first dropped so precipitously in 2015, ultimately forcing a stop to the field’s production. The Post-Gazette article included comments from a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection official, who expressed concern about dormant, unplugged wells on Allegheny National Forest land — as well as throughout Pennsylvania.
However, Giberson said, Halloran has continued to search for ways to bring Resources back online.
“Like any successful entrepreneur, Harry has faced difficult challenges, but through it all, rather than be part of a problem, he has always focused on being part of the solution,” Giberson said.
He explained Halloran’s ongoing collaboration with the Canadian company and the DEP could bring the field’s disposition to a “mutually beneficial resolution.”
The Canadian company, AquaPower Chemicals, would make products from salty wastewater from oil production in Pennsylvania — a portion of sales would go toward plugging wells that Resources has retired.
