Best Oil Company

What Best Oil Company does

Best Oil Company (legally Best Oil LLC) is a privately held regional fuel distributor founded in 1939 and headquartered in Cloquet, Minnesota. The company sells residential and commercial heating oil, bulk fuels (premium diesel, gasoline), wholesale fuels to gas stations and resellers, and aviation fuels (100 LL and Jet A), operating from four service locations across northern Minnesota — Cloquet (headquarters), Aitkin, Brainerd, and Jenkins — using a company-owned fleet of delivery trucks and a network of upstream suppliers. Its core technology stack is operational rather than software-driven: a scheduled delivery program monitors outside temperature to calculate customer usage and triggers automatic refills, eliminating tank-monitoring burden for residential customers, and the company offers budget payment plans that spread heating costs across the year via automatic bank deduction.

The business model is sales-led and transaction-based, generating revenue through per-gallon fuel sales across five distinct service lines: heating oils (residential and commercial with scheduled delivery), wholesale fuel (gas stations and fuel dealers), bulk fuels (logging, farming, trucking, recreational), aviation/jet products (airports and aircraft), and add-on offerings including Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), bulk lubricants, pumps and meters, bulk storage tanks, and fueling accessories. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; residential customers access budget payment plans while wholesale customers complete credit applications. Go-to-market is direct, relying on the company website, phone-based contact, and physical depots rather than digital channels. Customer segmentation is horizontal, spanning individual households, commercial accounts, wholesale resellers, and aviation operators across Minnesota, with no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, or external funding.

The company competes on local service quality, supplier breadth, and on-time delivery rather than technology differentiation. Aviation fuel is offered as both branded Phillips 66 and unbranded, signaling supplier-relationship flexibility. The company maintains an active careers portal, indicating ongoing hiring, and its operating structure as a Minnesota LLC with no public listing reflects a closely held, operationally focused regional business rather than a venture- or PE-backed growth platform.

Name

Best Oil Company

Legal name

Best Oil LLC

Website

https://bestoilcompany.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1939

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Best Oil Company is a privately held Minnesota fuel distributor founded in 1939 that sells residential and commercial heating oil, wholesale and bulk fuels, and aviation products across Cloquet, Aitkin, Brainerd, and Jenkins using its own delivery fleet.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Fuel Distribution

NAICS

Fuel Dealers (45721), Fuel Dealers (4572), Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers (4247)

SIC

Wholesale-Petroleum & Petroleum Products (No Bulk Stations) (5172), Wholesale-Petroleum Bulk Stations & Terminals (5171)

akta.pro primary industry

Commercial & Fleet Fueling (Cardlock, On-Site Tanks, Bulk Delivery) (EUALAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Aviation Fuel Marketing (Into-Plane, Airport Fueling) (EUALAIAH), Branded Fuels Wholesaling & Jobber Distribution (EUALAIAB)

Keywords

• Heating oil delivery
• Wholesale fuel distribution
• Bulk fuel supply
• Aviation fuel services
• Petroleum product distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

Cloquet

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Fuel and Heating Oil Sales: Revenue generated from selling heating oil, bulk fuels, wholesale fuels, and aviation products to residential and commercial customers. Includes scheduled delivery services and on-demand fuel orders.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Best Oil Company sells and delivers residential and commercial heating oil, wholesale fuels (including aviation 100 LL and Jet A), and bulk fuels (premium diesel in dyed and clear grades, gasoline, and premium gasoline) to homes, businesses, gas stations, farms, logging operations, trucking fleets, and airports across Minnesota. Distribution is executed through a company-owned fleet of trucks and a network of suppliers, with a scheduled temperature-monitored delivery program for residential heating customers and on-demand bulk and wholesale orders for commercial buyers.

Product overview

Best Oil Company operates as a regional fuel distribution company offering a portfolio of petroleum products through distinct service lines. The core offerings include Heating Oils for residential and commercial customers with scheduled delivery automation, Wholesale Fuel for gas stations and business customers, Bulk Fuels for diesel and gasoline needs, and Aviation/Jet Products for airports and aircraft. Supporting these core products are add-on services and equipment including bulk lubricants, DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), pumps and meters, bulk storage tanks, and fueling accessories. The company serves Minnesota locations including Cloquet, Aitkin, Brainerd, and Jenkins.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Avfuel Corporation: Independent aviation fuel supplier providing into-plane services, branded 100 LL and Jet A, and cardlock support to FBOs across North America. Directly comparable to Best Oil's aviation/Jet A business line targeting regional airports.
• Ferrellgas Partners: Public propane and energy products distributor focused on residential and small-commercial tank delivery, with adjacent offerings in lubricants, DEF, and equipment. Mirrors Best Oil's mix of tanked heating fuel plus add-on fluid/equipment sales.
• Suburban Propane Partners: Publicly traded energy dealer distributing propane and heating fuels to residential and commercial customers primarily in the eastern and central U.S. Operates the same local-delivery, recurring-service model as Best Oil's heating oil division, including budget payment plans and automatic delivery.
• AmeriGas Partners: Largest U.S. propane distributor serving residential, commercial, motor fuel, agricultural, and industrial customers through a route-based delivery network. Comparable business model to Best Oil's scheduled local delivery, large customer base, and broad fuel-product line.
• MFA Oil Company: Regional farmer-owned fuel and propane cooperative serving Missouri and surrounding Midwestern states with bulk fuel, propane, and lubricant distribution to farms, fleets, and consumers. Directly comparable to Best Oil's blend of bulk delivery, wholesale, and residential/light-commercial fuel customer segments in a similar regional footprint.
• ThompsonGas: Regional propane and gas marketer serving rural and suburban U.S. customers with route-based home delivery and budget billing. Closely mirrors Best Oil's customer-relationship-driven heating-fuel delivery model in similar community-scale towns.

Others

• WEX Inc. Provider of fleet fuel cards, payment processing, and telematics enabling commercial fleets to manage fuel spend across networks. Adjacent/ecosystem player; relevant to Best Oil because fleet-card acceptance is a competitive expectation in commercial and bulk fuel segments.

Broad incumbents

• Pilot Travel Centers (Pilot Flying J): Major U.S. travel center network offering diesel and gasoline to trucking fleets and the public, with significant wholesale fuel operations. Competes for bulk-fuel trucking and recreational-vehicle customers that overlap with Best Oil's bulk-fuels segment.
• CHS Inc. (Cenex): Large U.S. agricultural and energy cooperative distributing refined fuels through the Cenex retail brand and wholesale fuel operations across the Midwest. Operates in Best Oil's geography at much larger scale and competes for wholesale station customers and bulk-fuel buyers in Minnesota.
• World Fuel Services: Global aviation, marine, and land fuel marketer with into-plane operations at airports worldwide, including smaller regional fields. Provides the larger-scale analog of Best Oil's aviation fueling offering.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Best Oil Company