Brewton office to remain open; natural gas in Flomaton intact
Thompson Gas of Boonsboro, MD purchased most of South Alabama Gas District’s (SAG’s) propane division’s assets last week for $17.6 million.
Officials of Thompson and SAG met at SAG’s corporate office last Thursday morning to sign the contracts, according to SAG’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Burgess.
“We retained six pieces of property with an estimated value of approximately $1.1 million with approximately $180,000 in inventory,” said Burgess.
Burgess said the Evergreen, Brewton and Monroeville offices were retained by SAG and there are no plans to sell or close the offices at this time.
South Alabama Gas will continue to operate its natural gas division, which serves the Flomaton area. Officials said Flomaton customers will see no change in service.
He added that SAG’s propane division employed 56 people across the district and that 38,845 customers were currently being served by SAG’s propane division. SAG also buys and distributes natural gas across the district.
During a special called meeting Monday of last week, Burgess said Thompson is the fifth largest propane company in the U.S. and that Thompson officials said they would SAG’s offer jobs to SAG’s employees currently working in the propane division.
“We did not sell all the assets of the propane division, so when everything is liquidated we should see a small gain,” added Burgess.
In recent years, SAG and other propane companies in the southeastern U.S., have struggled to keep their heads above water due to warmer than normal winters.
Currently, Thompson Gas will operate out of the South Alabama Gas offices in Evergreen, Brewton and Monroeville until they find a new location. It was note again, that the local offices will remain open.
