But a FreshDirect senior vice president said the upgrade would not affect the equipment that has led to occasional complaints about the company — a smaller motor that runs refrigeration equipment to keep the food fresh. The new equipment will shut off only the engine that powers the drive train. The two operate separately.

The state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, announced Friday that his office and FreshDirect, based in Long Island City, Queens, had reached an agreement on installing the shutoff equipment after an investigation into consumer complaints that FreshDirect trucks were violating anti-idling laws.

A statement from Mr. Cuomo said the investigation documented at least 30 cases of illegal idling by FreshDirect trucks. Under state law, trucks and buses cannot idle for more than five minutes at a time. New York City limits idling time to three minutes, and in areas near schools, it is no more than 60 seconds.

FreshDirect, which averages 7,000 deliveries a day, has agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty for violating state and city anti-idling laws, the statement said. It said the penalty had been $120,000, but $70,000 had been suspended contingent on the company’s compliance.

Mr. Cuomo said that besides affecting public health and the environment, idling wastes fuel: an average of 30,000 gallons of gasoline and 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel in the city every day.

Jim Moore, FreshDirect’s senior vice president for business affairs, said the company has had experience with engine-control technology. It has the equipment on 20 to 25 trucks, the newest in its fleet. The engine turns off if the vehicle remains in park for more than three minutes.

The company promised that any new trucks would come with the equipment.

Mr. Moore said the company had received complaints about idling since its trucks hit the streets in 2002. He said the company had looked into those complaints and concluded that they stemmed from noise made by the refrigeration engines. Those are not covered by the agreement with Mr. Cuomo.

The purchase "is a continuation of our relationship with BP and the strength of working together," Kelly Kroll, director of marketing for Atlas Oil, told CSNews Online. "[The stores] overlay attractively with the current market space logistics and operations."

As reported in a CSNews Online news flash yesterday, the purchase will bring Atlas’ total BP station count in the region to 113, and is scheduled to close in June. Atlas will supply the locations with fuel, and will operate the stores initially, but in the future, may give dealers the opportunity to purchase sites from Atlas or employ another operational model, depending on the location, Kroll said.

The company’s focus on Chicago has come from its acquisitions strategy, which over the past several years has brought its from southwest Michigan to Indiana and farther west, Kroll said.

"There’s clear operational efficiency for transportation and logistics," he said. "Chicago is still a forward moving market space, and we are behaving like most other organizations and we follow the money."

With the completion of this deal, Atlas will manage the supply of nearly 400 retail locations in total throughout the U.S. In addition, Atlas’ annual distribution of BP fuel will top more than 300,000,000 gallons through this acquisition, making it one of BP’s largest distributors, according to the company.

"Atlas Oil Co. has proven to be a great business partner for BP," Sean Daley, vice president Midwest Sales of BP Products North America, said in a statement. "Atlas’ distribution, supply management and operational capabilities have given us considerable confidence and trust in their ability to manage these BP branded retail assets in one of the most important Midwest markets for BP and the ampm franchise offer."

But Atlas’ growth will not stop soon. By 2015, the company has a distribution goal of 5 billion gallons. Meanwhile, it continues its expansion through purchases such as this, which is the third from BP in a year. Previous transactions include 23 sites in September 2008, and 57 sites in January 2009.

"Despite challenging economic conditions nationally and in our home state of Michigan, we continue to meet our growth objectives in the Midwest market," Mike Evans, executive vice president of business development for Atlas Oil, said in a statement. "Each acquisition expands the markets in which we can prospect for new opportunities, and we look forward to being able to further develop our relationship with BP by converting additional locations to the BP brand."

Kroll added: "In general, recessions are bad for everyone’s growth plan, but it does provide some opportunities on the acquisition side, where some costs do go down. When the market is depressed there are bargains to be had."

By Mehgan Belanger

Mobil currently has a long term agreement to supply the fuel for the service stations 7-Eleven acquired from us last year. The remainder of 7-Eleven’s network is currently supplied under an agreement with another fuel supplier which concludes at the end of 2011. Earlier this year 7-Eleven started to consider their options for future supply and invited Mobil to tender for this part of their business also. Mobil has been successful in what proved to be a very competitive tender process.

The new agreement with 7-Eleven will significantly increase Mobil’s wholesale fuel sales in Australia. It will have flow-on benefits for our Altona refinery and distribution terminals in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and demonstrates that Mobil continues to be a vigorous competitor in the Australian wholesale fuel market.

Mobil looks forward to building a strong alliance with 7-Eleven over time which will provide the opportunity for further business growth for both parties.