FuelSpot Restructures

FuelSpot.com Inc., a venture-backed online crude and refined petroleum exchange fighting for survival, recently revealed significant management changes in conjunction with a new round of financing led by investor Zero Stage Capital."FuelSpot has built a strong software platform that is beginning to be used by many companies in the refined petroleum industry," said FuelSpot board member Stan Fung, senior managing director at Zero Stage. "We believe that FuelSpot will set the standards for software and services providing customers the ability to manage, monitor and secure their supply chain."Founded in 1999, the company hopes to produce positive cash flow by fall 2002. To curb an outflow of debt, FuelSpot in September laid off one-third of its staff and shut down offices in Minnesota and Colorado.As part of the restructuring, former CEO Jim Imbler and company cofounder Howard Berke have accepted positions as strategic advisors, leading an advisory board consisting of oil industry and software development representativesThe company named Peter Luitwieler, former chief information office at Citgo Petroleum, as chairman. Paul Hutchison, who joined FuelSpot in February 2000, was appointed president and COO. Steve Bleyl, formerly vice president of value-added services at Koch Petroleum, will serve as executive vice president and chief domain officer. Frank O'Connell was named chief information officer."We are really excited about the team we have assembled to lead FuelSpot in the next phase of our evolution. The combined industry experience and deep technical capabilities make the FuelSpot team one of the strongest in the industry," said Steve Cropper, FuelSpot board member and former president and CEO at Williams Energy Services.