Vertex Energy Increases Collection Gallons Through Acquisition of Business and New Generator Accounts

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vertex Energy, Inc. (OTC BB:VTNR), an environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products, announces the acquisition of a used oil collection business in the Houston market and the addition of new generator gallons to its network of collectors.

Vertex Energy's acquisition of the Houston-area used oil collection business includes a strong customer supply base, as well as 2 trucks and miscellaneous operating assets. The acquired company will be immediately integrated into Vertex's operations, as part of its H&H Oil collection business. The acquisition and new accounts acquired by our sales force are expected to contribute approximately 760,000 additional gallons per year to Vertex's collection volumes beginning 2013.

Benjamin P. Cowart, Chief Executive Officer of Vertex Energy said, "Both of these business activities exemplify how our recent acquisition of Vertex Holdings, especially the H & H Oil collection business, provides us a platform to acquire and integrate other collectors in important geographic areas, increase our volume and improve our profitability. As part of our ongoing strategy, we will continue to seek additional opportunities that will contribute to our strong position in the marketplace."

ABOUT VERTEX ENERGY, INC.

Vertex Energy, Inc. (OTCBB:VTNR), is a leading environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products. Its primary focus is recycling used motor oil and other petroleum by-product streams. Vertex Energy purchases these streams from an established network of local and regional collectors and generators. The company also manages the transport, storage and delivery of the aggregated feedstock and product streams to end users, and manages the re-refining of a portion of its aggregated petroleum streams in order to sell them as higher-value end products. Vertex Energy sells its aggregated petroleum streams as feedstock to other re-refineries and fuel blenders or as replacement fuel for use in industrial burners. The re-refining of used motor oil that Vertex Energy manages takes place at a facility operated by a related party that uses a proprietary Thermal Chemical Extraction Process ("TCEP") technology. Based in Houston, Texas, Vertex Energy also has offices in Georgia and California. More information on the company can be found at www.vertexenergy.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of Vertex Energy's future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of Vertex Energy, its divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents Vertex Energy files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Vertex Energy's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Vertex Energy cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, Vertex Energy undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Vertex Energy.