verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message irving oil ltd. type private industry oil and petroleum founded 1924 1924 founder k. c. irving headquarters saint john new brunswick canada key people james k. irving arthur irving john e. irving products fuels lubricants petrochemicals parent irving group of companies website www.irvingoil.com irving oil ltd. is a canadian gasoline oil and natural gas producing and exporting company . the company is privately owned by arthur irving and his family . it is considered part of the irving group of companies . irving oil operates the irving oil refinery canada s largest refinery as well as a network of gasoline stations a fleet of oil tankers real estate and other related assets . contents 1 history 2 refining 3 distribution 4 retail network 4.1 convenience stores 4.2 big stops 5 criticisms 6 incidents 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit kenneth colin k.c. irving established irving oil limited in 1924 when he was 25 years old . using gasoline imported by rail the first retailing location was in bouctouche new brunswick . irving moved to saint john to open a ford dealership and lubricants plant in 1924 . the company expanded across the maritimes through the 1930s to quebec in 1940 newfoundland in 1949 and to maine in 1972 . 1 irving oil opened a station in torrington ct april 2011 . citation needed in 1977 irving oil became the first canadian oil company to offer unleaded gasoline at its retail outlets . in the late 1990s it became the first oil company in canada and one of the first in north america to offer gasoline with very low sulphur content a fact which was recognized by many automobile manufacturers . citation needed due to its investment in reducing emissions irving oil was one of the few energy companies in canada to publicly support the kyoto accord . 2 original refinery on the east side of saint john new brunswick refining edit irving canaport sign in 1960 the company partnered with standard oil co. of california socal to build the irving oil refinery in the east end of saint john . irving bought out socal s share of the refinery in the late 1980s and expanded the facility to become canada s largest refinery processing over 300 000 barrels per day 48 000 m3 d . in the late 1990s the refinery was upgraded to create some of north america s lowest emission petroleum . an old style irving oil station in musquodoboit harbour nova scotia since 1970 the refinery has been served by the canaport crude oil receiving terminal southeast of saint john . in 2009 this facility was expanded to host the canaport lng terminal for importing liquefied natural gas lng . 3 irving oil announced in fall 2006 that it had purchased more land near canaport and was examining the feasibility of constructing another 300 000 barrel 48 000 m3 refinery in the area to complement the original modernized 1960s era refinery in the east end of saint john ; the new refinery was to be named the eider rock refinery and was to be built under a partnership between irving oil and bp plc. 4 on july 24 2009 both companies announced that they were indefinitely postponing plans to build the second refinery . 5 distribution edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message marine irving oil s core retail area is in northeast north america and is well served by a network of regional ports and harbours in atlantic canada quebec and new england an area that is under served by pipelines . consequently the company economically transports much of its petroleum products to regional distribution terminals at ports throughout the region using its own fleet of coastal tankers . in the 1990s irving oil also took delivery of several ultra large crude carriers to deliver crude oil to the saint john refinery from production locations in venezuela the persian gulf and the north sea . road irving oil operates a large fleet of company branded tanker trucks to deliver petroleum to retail locations from its saint john refinery as well as the marine distribution terminals . since the 1970s these semi trailer tanker trucks were painted a distinctive golden yellow but the fleet underwent a paint scheme change in the 2000s to use white for both cab and trailer . irving oil s home heating fuel delivery truck fleet was similarly coloured and is undergoing a paint scheme change . sister company j.d. irving limited owns and operates rst industries which provides road tanker transport services for irving oil s wholesale deliveries 6 as well as for jet fuel marine fuel liquid asphalt and other products . rail irving oil once made extensive use of rail service to deliver petroleum from the saint john refinery to rail side distribution terminals throughout atlantic canada and quebec . the decline in rural branch rail lines operated by canadian national railway and cp rail in the 1980s and 1990s combined with the increase of 4 lane highway construction has seen irving oil eliminate practically all retail petroleum delivery by rail and the closure of many of its rail side distribution terminals in favour of newer highway served terminals or direct deliveries . irving oil continues to make extensive use of rail service for wholesale petroleum deliveries from its saint john refinery . products such as propane liquid asphalt and diesel are delivered daily to locations in quebec and new england via new brunswick southern railway owned by sister company j.d. irving limited as well as by cn . retail network edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message irving oil operates bulk furnace oil and propane outlets in most major centres across atlantic canada new england and quebec as well as select locations in eastern ontario almost all of which are supplied from its saint john refinery . irving oil also operates over 900 gas stations in these jurisdictions . in recent decades smaller stations have been closed and consolidated as newer larger facilities are constructed irving owns many choice real estate locations in communities across northeastern north america some of which are no longer used for gas retailing and others being held in speculation of some future need . older stations are typically franchise operations and still have automobile service and repair shops which in recent years are branded by meineke . irving mainway westville nova scotia convenience stores edit most of irving oil s corporate owned and operated stations also contain convenience stores . these locations operated as simply irving stations until the late 1990s when the mainway banner march mainway in quebec was introduced ; mainway being a brand appropriated from one of irving s u.s. acquisitions . by the early 2000s 56 of the company s quebec locations had been leased to the couche tard chain and rebranded accordingly conversely 60 of couche tard s fueling stations were supplied by irving fuels and re branded accordingly . by the mid 2000s irving began to renovate and rebrand its old mainway stations under the name bluecanoe as part of the company s modernization plan . the bluecanoe brand was first introduced in new england and was introduced to some stations in eastern ontario and the atlantic provinces ; however many others were not upgraded and retained the older name mainway . on may 8 2008 irving announced that they would lease 252 of the mainway and bluecanoe retail stores at its stations in canada and new england to alimentation couche tard which is now the process of rebranding all of the stores as circle k. irving will continue to own the stations and supply their fuel and other lubricants the fuel brands at these stations will remain irving . irving stations in quebec are expected to retain the couche tard banner for the retail stores . irving stations in new england often contain an amato s express subway or quiznos . irving big stop truck stop sign near fredericton new brunswick big stops edit irving oil also operates several big stops which are truck stops featuring family restaurants facilities for truck drivers and convenience stores . these large stations are located at strategic locations throughout new england the maritimes quebec and newfoundland . they occupy several hectares near important highway interchanges and junctions and have been developed since the 1970s ; some of the oldest big stops are still in operation with the interiors being evocative of that era . these locations aside from their convenience store operations continue to be operated by irving oil . in the past decade irving oil has opened several new big stops in new brunswick to reflect the modernized and realigned arterial highway network in that province and these facilities contain restaurants that have their own name and identity which are often reflective of the local area . the first modern big stop is in salisbury nb and its restaurant is called the silver fox ; the second one to open was in lincoln nb and has a restaurant called the blue canoe ; the third was in grand falls nb with a restaurant called the back forty ; the most recent is in enfield ns with a restaurant called crossing the original name for the community . irving corporate offices in saint john criticisms edit irving oil and j.d. irving ltd. are private companies that are closely held by the irving family . as a result there isn t as much public information available on the company as there would be for a publicly traded organization . like most oil companies irving oil has a vertically integrated structure although its structure isn t as comprehensive in its vertical integration as other oil businesses such as exxonmobil . citation needed examples of vertical integration within the irving group of companies as the irving family refers to their holdings include the acquisition or formation of businesses along the entire chain of production from the irving refinery an irving oil subsidiary and its retail outlets to the transportation subsidiaries of j.d. irving rst midland nb southern sunbury to various construction and engineering companies that assist in building maintaining and expanding the conglomerate s facilities . further examples of vertical integration within the conglomerate include industrial security ltd. isl the wholly owned security company that guards facilities as well as industrial suppliers such as thornes universal sales and commercial equipment ltd. which provide specialty goods and services to its companies . j.d. irving the sister firm to irving oil is a dominant forestry company in northeastern north america growing trees harvesting trees and producing lumber pulp and paper and various enhanced value products such as magazine grade paper tissue and personal care products . jdi also owns brunswick news which controls most english language newspapers in new brunswick . the city of saint john where irving oil is located is closely tied to the irving group of companies which are mostly headquartered there . in 2005 irving oil received a controversial tax break from the municipality to develop the canaport lng liquid natural gas terminal ; it was apparently negotiated one on one with the city s then mayor norm macfarlane . the tax concessions have cost the city of saint john approximately 75 million over ten years with a potential total loss of over 180 million . 7 8 the