About Us

Center Independent Energy, L.P. is a regional Shell, Marathon and Sunoco branded fuel distributor headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This distribution company is owned by Doug Friend and Christian Stein who have a long history in the Pittsburgh service station community.

Center Independent Energy, L.P. (CIE) is focused on growing their dealer business by providing superior service, site level marketing and promotions, consulting, equipment and signage upgrades, and always aggressive fuel supply contracts. With three generations of gasoline/retail experience, we work with our dealers to review their complete operations. The owners and team members of CIE and their affiliated companies have experience with C-Store, Car Wash, Beer, Food Service, Commercial Fueling, and Service Bay operations. Profit center generation, category and expense management, as well as benchmarking peer data is a continuous improvement process within our culture. Today Center Independent Energy suppliers over 46 owned and operated dealer locations.

Sweet Pea's Store Front

Our History

“Dealers Serving Dealers”, is at the core of everything we do at Center Independent Energy. Doug Friend grew up working at his family’s service bay station in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh. This facility has been operated by his family for over 80 years. In 1992 Doug purchased his first location, a Sunoco Ultra Service Center in Aliquippa, PA. Around 1994 Doug became active in the Pittsburgh based dealers association, PRARA, and served as their president for many years.

With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Christian Stein has also been a multi-site dealer and has served as a PRARA board member. His background has been used to help our dealers with financing, profit center development, marketing, and construction. Christian and Doug introduced Shell to Pittsburgh motorists and dealers in 2004 via the acquisition of 27 ConocoPhillips retail assets. In 2011 CIE acquired the retail assets of Center Independent Oil Company based in Fayette County, PA.

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