RKA Petroleum Companies is the official fuel supplier of the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Since 1927, the Ryder Cup Matches have evolved from a friendly set of golf matches into one of the world's premier sporting events. Europe and the United States take turns hosting this biennial event, which means that the U.S. only plays host once every four years. Overall, only 17 courses in the United States have served as sites for the Matches, and no course or club has ever held the Matches twice. In 2004, Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, site of six U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships became the 18th course to host the event and RKA Petroleum Companies was there for all their fueling needs!

Did you know that it is estimated that ethanol demand in the United States will reach 3.0 to 3.4 billion gallons by 2005? Based on the status of the latest Energy Bill and the banning of MTBE, an additive in gasoline, ethanol will make up 2.0-2.3% of gasoline by 2005. So, what does this mean to everyone? It means, quite simply, that there is an emerging market for ethanol in the State of Michigan and across the world.

RKA is now Michigan's supplier of ethanol products. RKA Petroleum Companies, LLC signed an agreement yesterday to guarantee a steady flow of ethanol into the RKA Terminal. Effective January 1, 2004, ethanol will be brought in by rail to the terminal facility. RKA will be able to blend ethanol in products at the rack and will also have the capability of selling the ethanol products in bulk.

This exciting agreement will bring many benefits to Southeast Michigan!

RKA Petroleum Companies was one of only a small handful of petroleum terminals in Southeast Michigan that was operational during the Blackout of 2003. With state of the art backup power, RKA's terminal was able to work around the clock and handle hundreds of emergency requests for fuel in the area, allowing many of Southeast Michigan's hospitals, municipalities, and businesses to operate throughout the outage. RKA's terminal was bombarded with demand for product from a wide area due to the outage. Fortunately, RKA had plenty of supply to ensure coverage for many of the area's down terminals and refinery problems. RKA Petroleum Companies is part of a distributed power network and can run its business on or off the grid.

St. John Oakland Hospital is one of RKA's customers who depended on service during the outage. William Mott, VP of Clinical/Support Services writes, "I am so very grateful to you and your employees who came to our hospital and 'topped us off' very quickly. Thank you for partnering with us to provide great patient care!" To read more, click here.

St. Mary Mercy Hospital also received fuel delivery service from RKA during the blackout. To read more, click here.

An article describing RKA Petroleum Companies' success during the Blackout of 2003 was published in the August 25, 2003 issue of Crain's Detroit Business. During the outage, "We operated on the honor code... The dispatchers and drivers came through in a big way... RKA managed to fill most emergency orders within a couple of hours." To read more, click here. Crain's Detroit Members, click here to read more online.