World Fuel Services


World Fuel Services Corporation is an energy, commodities, and services company based in Miami, Florida. The company ranked No. 91 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations. WFS focuses on the marketing, trading, and financing of aviation, marine and ground transportation fuel commodities and related services. As of 2013, WFS also operates in natural gas and power.
The global leader in marine refueling, in 2018 WFS sold a record total of 21 billion gallons of fuel for $39.8 billion in revenue.

History

World Fuel operates an asset light business model, which competitors have attempted to mimic.
In 1984, Paul Stebbins and Michael Kasbar founded Trans-Tec Services, Inc., a marine fuel brokerage company. It was headquartered in New York City. Over the next 10 years they grew the company and built a global network of offices. In 1995, Stebbins and Kasbar sold Trans-Tec to International Recovery Corporation, and the company was renamed World Fuel Services.
International Recovery Corporation was founded in Miami in 1984 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986. The company changed its name to World Fuel Services Corporation after acquiring Trans-Tec. Stebbins and Kasbar served as members of the board of directors and managed the marine business, prior to taking on the corporate positions they hold today.
WFS was named as a co-defendant in various lawsuits since it had title to crude oil aboard a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train which derailed in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec on July 6, 2013, resulting in multiple deaths. Prior to the accident, WFS had been lauded as the only firm which had grown faster than technology giant Apple across a ten-year span.

Strategic Acquisitions & Divestitures

Since 2010, World Fuel has made a series of transformational acquisitions in software, financial technology, natural gas, power, and energy management:
*Multi-Service Technology Solutions : A B2B fuel card and payment solutions company that managed the AIR & SEA Card for the Department of Defense.
*U.S. Energy Services : Allowed World Fuel to expand into natural gas, power, and energy management. Traditionally a supplier of petroleum products, the firm used U.S. Energy Services as a foundation to expand with a series of six acquisitions. This would pave the way for the new Kinect Energy Group division. Kinect Energy provides "energy management advisory and fulfillment services in over 30 countries and energy reporting in over 150 countries in almost every language and currency."
*Avinode : An on-demand market place for aircraft charter, similar to mobile transportation network companies.
*Other acquisitions between 2010 and 2014: Carter Energy, Western Petroleum, Lakeside Oil, Petro Air Corp, Watson Fuels, Ascent Aviation, Hiller Group, South Minnesota Lubes, Indianhead Oil, Nordic Camp Supply, Shell Oil Gibraltar, MH Aviation Services Pty, Yacht Fuel Services, and Colt International.
In 2014, WFS divested interests in a North Dakota Bakken crude oil transloading and trading venture. During the initial Bakken boom there were no pipelines going to the region, most of the product had to be shipped by railcar. The venture, with 1,100 railcars, shipped 20 Mb/d as it was one of only six options for producers to move crude oil out of the area. In 2018, two years after launching a freight factoring unit under Multi Service, WFS quickly divested it to BAMFi. In 2019, World Fuel put its Multi-Service subsidiary unit up for sale.

Organization

Globally, World Fuel is composed of 185+ subsidiaries, primarily in the U.S., U.K., Singapore, Netherlands, Sweden, and Costa Rica.
It has 150 offices with service in 190 countries.
Trading, Financial Derivatives, Terminal Wholesale, Energy Price Risk Management, Fuel Cards, Payment Processing, Ground Handling, Rail Logistics, Tanker Logistics, Rack Wholesale, Fuel & Lubes Quality Control, Break-Bulk Delivery, Bulk Delivery, Common Carrier Service, Delivery Management, Onsite Mobile Fueling, ISO Solutions, Turnkey Fuel Logistics, Card Marketing, Dealer Marketing Programs, FBO Marketing Programs, Lubricant Marketing, Lubricant Merchandising, Fuel Management Outsourcing, Retail Site Development, CNG Station Construction, Convenience Store Development, Convenience Store Real Estate, Merchandising, Aviation Ground Services, Lay-Up Services, Ship Agent Services, Aviation Trip Planning & Support, Ancillary Capital Management Solutions, Credit Lines, Embedded Derivatives, Trade Credit, Energy Efficiency Advisory, Electric Demand Response Advisory, Sustainability Advisory, Water & Wastewater Management Advisory, LNG Supply Management Advisory, Energy Infrastructure Consulting, Fleet & Equipment Purchase Advisory, Fuel Supply Chain Advisory, Gas Fleet Conversion Advisory, Air Charter Marketplace Solutions - Avinode, Online Procurement & Fuel Locators, Payment Card Networks, Payment Card Processing, Point of Sale Systems, Toll Transaction Management