WATERVILLE (AP) – Irving Oil Corp. said it is offering to deliver fuel to customers in Maine who prepaid to an Oakland company that’s been put into involuntary bankruptcy.

“We have offered and we are reaching out to PPCOM’s customers individually to ensure that they are able to get fuel,” said Mike Crosby, head of marketing for Irving. “We’re waiting for their calls.”

Irving, whose American headquarters is in Portsmouth, N.H., also said it has received permission from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and U.S. District Court in Portland to deliver fuel oil to more than a dozen schools and municipalities at no cost until a dispute involving PPCOM Inc. is resolved.

Irving said it has already delivered fuel to 10 locations in the town of Oakland.

PPCOM has been placed in involuntary bankruptcy by several creditors, many of them in central Maine, who claim they did not get fuel for which they prepaid. Among the creditors is the state of Maine, which claims $3.15 million in unpaid fuel taxes.

Irving said it was not paid $11 million for fuel it provided to the Oakland-based PPCOM. Irving is claiming fuel stored in Winslow as security for that fuel. On Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor ruled that the claim was properly before that court.

PPCOM attorney Dale Wengler disputed Irving’s claim that the company faces more than $17 million in debts, adding that it was premature to reveal such numbers.

“We have been put into involuntary bankruptcy by Irving,” said Wengler. “If they can round up a few creditors, they can put a company into bankruptcy, which they have done at this point.”

Wengler said no evidence has been presented that PPCOM has engaged in any fraudulent or inappropriate activity.