Rough day, BP! First Vladimir Putin’s minions cut you out of the huge Russian arctic oil-excavation business, and raid your Moscow headquarters for good measure. Then a U.S. federal court judge rules that a renegade Washington state ARCO gas-station franchisee can’t be barred from selling gas that isn’t yours. To bring the rest of you into this conversation: Hatem Shalabi owns 15 gas stations in and around Tacoma. Recently, he was late on a $1.3 million payment to BP-owned ARCO, which he says amounted to a two-day supply of fuel. Shalabi says he was in the process of putting together the money when the energy behemoth shut off the spigot to his gas stations. With no obvious alternative, Shalabi removed some of his stations’ ARCO signs, covered up the rest, and began lining up other gas suppliers. BP responded by suing Shalabi in federal court on August 12, claiming breach of contract. It asked that the court immediately order the entrepreneur to stop selling non-ARCO gas at his stations, insisting that its good name is being tarnished because Shalabi’s stores still look a lot like ARCO stations. Today, Judge Marsha Pechman denied BP’s request for such a preliminary injunction. Happily for BP, however, the letters it sent out to Shalabi’s new suppliers, which explain that in addition to ruining Shalabi, it would also sue the shit out of them if they didn’t stop selling him gas, seem to be working their magic. The News Tribune

reports that Shalabi’s had to close most of his stations for lack of fuel.Follow The Daily Weekly on Facebook and Twitter.