AMESBURY — Immeasurable amounts of oil are still pouring from a broken British Petroleum-owned well in the Gulf of Mexico each day, reaping untold damage on the ecosystem and jeopardizing the livelihood people across the coastal areas — from fishermen to restaurateurs to oil rig workers.
Thousands of miles away, local business owners are feeling the impacts, as well.
Gas station owner Jim Daaboul, whose Getty station on Route 110 in Amesbury raised its BP sign yesterday as part of a regional changeover inked well before the disaster, said he hopes customers will continue to support the business he has run for 20 years and not boycott, a setback other BP stations have experienced.
"The spill was an accident — it has nothing to do with the (BP) sign (on local gas stations) or dealers," Daaboul said. "I'm just a small guy. Customers need to look at the service, not the sign."
Though they had nothing to do with the crisis, BP station owners across the Merrimack Valley say that their businesses are experiencing blowback from the Gulf disaster, some reporting nearly 50 percent drops in sales since the disaster began two months ago.
It's just bad timing for local BP gas station owners, such as Daabouls.
"I have no choice — I'm a dealer," Daaboul said. "The contract was signed 11/2 years ago."
Mike Abdallah, owner of a BP station on Haverhill Street in Methuen, said last week that his business is as slow as it's ever been in his 23 years of ownership, and that he may have to lay off two people because of the drop in sales the past two months.
About a year ago, Getty got out of the gas business and became a realty company, and leased all of its property and signed a contract with a distributor, Green Valley, that exclusively sells BP gas, Abdallah said.
Because they buy BP gas, the 200 or so former Getty stations in New England have to put up the BP logo, wear BP uniforms, and sell BP products.
Hamid Saliba, owner of a BP gas and service station at 484 Broadway, near the Salem, N.H., line, reported that people drive by shouting obscenities at the station.
Abe Doumit, owner of the BP station at 163 Pelham St. in Methuen, said he used to average sales of 3,500 to 4,000 gallons each day, but on a recent Sunday, he sold only 1,100 gallons.
Charlie Mabardy, who runs a number of Seabrook gas stations, continues to run a BP gas station on Route 1 in Seabrook. He could not be reached for comment, but one of the two Seabrook BPs on alternate sides of Route 107 is closed.
Daaboul, whose station changed over just this week, said he's already felt the impacts.
"I've bumped into a few people who said they won't fill up here," Daaboul said. "But I have many loyal customers that don't care about what the sign says."
Darlene Woodsom of Amesbury, who has been a customer of Daaboul's for about six years. She said she will continue to get her vehicle serviced at Daaboul's auto body garage attached to the station, but will not buy gas from the station because she does not want to support BP.
"They caused that environmental disaster, and I don't think they're handling it well," she said.
"BP is one of the biggest suppliers — they supply Mobil, Shell," Daaboul noted. "If you're going to have a car, you are going to use oil — you have to have wells."
— Staff writer Bill Kirk contributed to this article. Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.
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