Great Lakes Petroleum history

In 1978 Tom purchased his second fuel truck and hired the first two drivers, Dale Gant and Bill Hemlick.

The company nearly doubled its brine reserves near El Dorado, Arkansas, when it purchased the bromine operations of Northwest Industries' Velsicol subsidiary in 1981.

In July of 1982 Great Lakes purchased a fluids company called Mobley Chemical and in October acquired a 63 percent share of the Oilfield Service Corporation of America.

In September of 1983 Great Lakes Chemical purchased the Inland Specialty Chemical Corporation for $10 million.

In 1984 the federal government banned ethylene dibromide for non-fuel uses.

In April of 1985 the company purchased the remaining shares of Enzyme Technology Corp. in exchange for Great Lakes shares worth approximately $331,000 and all of the outstanding stock of Purex Pool Products, Inc., for almost $21 million.

In 1986, the company acquired Pentech Corp. and QO Chemicals, Inc., a furfural specialty chemicals group, for $121.6 million in cash.

In the same year, Great Lakes purchased a 15 percent interest in Huntsman Chemical Corp. and an additional 25 percent interest in January 1987.

In 1989, Great Lakes acquired a 51.15 percent interest in Octel Associates and its operating company Associated Octel Company, Limited, for $198 million.

Great Lakes' bromine capacity represented 20 percent of the world's supply in 1992.

By 1994, Great Lakes was in the number two position in the $2 billion polymer stabilizers market.

By 1995, capacity constraints were preventing the company from accepting profitable business.

In February 1998 Tom Arcoria, Inc. became what is now Great Lakes Petroleum.

On 13/04/1999 the company changed it’s name to GREAT LAKES CHEMICAL (EUROPE) LIMITED

In 2001 Great Lakes expanded into the lubricant business buying into Northeast Lubricants, a small lubricant jobber, that is now one of the larger BP and Castrol distributors in the country.

Tom's youngest son, Anthony Arcoria, joined the company in 2002 as a driver, learning all he could about the business.

In September 2003 Great Lakes Chemical Corporation announced it had entered into a long-term strategic sourcing agreement from Dead Sea Bromine Ltd in Israel.

In 2005, Anthony Arcoria moved to the Charlotte area and began expanding our footprint into the Carolinas.

February 2006 marked our first fuel delivery in the Carolinas to Coastal Carolina Pumping.

As of December 31, 2014, Chemtura’s global total assets were $2.7 billion.