Worker: Ottawa gas station supplied by bankrupt Crescent Oil closes

Monday started as a typical day for workers at Phillips 66, 226 W. 23rd St.

But what started as a typical day ended late in the afternoon with the store closing.

“I thought, ‘What do I do?” Danielle Stevenson, an employee of the store, said.

Stevenson said the station was visited Monday afternoon by an official who visits the store often and handles much of its paperwork. This time, however, the official notified an owner that the store would be closing, she said.

Crescent Oil supplied gas to the local Phillips 66 store. The company and its subsidiaries, based in Independence, Kan., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

A representative with Crescent did not return phone calls this morning.

Joy and Tim Cronin, owners of the local store, were unavailable this morning, but verified the closure with Stevenson.

Stevenson said the store was told it wasn’t the only one that would be closed. She said she and other employees were shocked by the news.

Since the supplier’s bankruptcy, the local store had experienced times in which it did not have gasoline.

Crescent is a wholesale supplier of Conoco-Phillips, Shell, Valero and British Petroleum gasoline.

Established in 1987, Crescent Oil was bought in October by Richardson, Texas,-based Titan Global Holdings Inc.

Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com