Gas Station Feasibility Study in Oklahoma

Oklahoma stations borrow big

Gas stations and truck stops carry real weight in Oklahoma's SBA lending (location quotient 1.42x); they place 7 of 39 among Oklahoma classes. The state approved 88 loans worth $96.7 million from FY2017 to FY2026, ranking 18 of 53. Its median loan, $927,500, is 0.88x the national midpoint, and Oklahoma's middle half of loans sits between $488,750 and $1.4 million. Our distinctness screen compares the median and both outcome rates with Oklahoma's all-class record and with stations nationally; none passes at the required margin and confidence, which on a cell of 88 loans is partly a matter of sample size.

A concentrated lender market

SBA 7(a) carried 83 of Oklahoma's station loans and SBA 504 just 5. Metro City Bank made 17 loans worth $28.1 million, a large share of the dollars, and BancFirst 8 worth $4.5 million; no other lender reaches the 5-loan level we list. Franchised stations take 25.0%. The loans are spread across the state rather than gathered in one metro: Oklahoma County has 12, Pittsburg 8, Pontotoc 7, Carter 6 and Stephens 5. FY2025 was the biggest year for dollars, with 12 loans totalling $20.1 million.

High cancellations, real losses

Oklahoma station approvals from FY2017 to FY2024 have a cancellation floor of 20.3%, rising to 23.2% if loans still undisbursed are counted. Losses are real as well: Oklahoma has charged off at least 5.9% of the 34 station loans it disbursed over FY2017 to FY2021, with the five-year measure at the same 5.9%, though a cohort that small swings easily and open loans keep the figure a floor. For a borrower, the cancellation floor says many approved station deals do not close, and the environmental, title and fuel-supply questions that can stop one are best answered before approval. For a lender, early losses on large tickets put weight on the operator's fuel margins and store sales in the first years.

An Oklahoma station study must test the site's traffic and access, the fuel volume competing stations already capture, and the store sales the location supports, with truck traffic counted where the site serves it. Cost covers land, tanks, pumps and store, or the price of a going concern, plus environmental work. Coverage on an Oklahoma loan near the $927,500 median needs fuel gallons and store margins tested at the low end. The appraisal will look at both going-concern value and real estate value, and the study has to support both. Truck stops cannot be split from stations in this code, the borrower's industry is what is counted, and EV charging has no code of its own.