Gas Shamrock Station

Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is a Fortune 500 oil and gas refining and retail company based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The company owns and operates 18 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3.3 million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America. Valero is also one of the US's largest retail operators with more than 5,000 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names, including Valero , Diamond Shamrock , Ultramar , Shamrock , and Beacon .

Retail

Valero also retails gasoline branded as Valero , Shamrock , Diamond Shamrock , Ultramar , Beacon , and Total (under license from Total S.A.). While this arm of the company is the most visible to the public, it is, according to CEO William R. Klesse, "a very small part of operations".

Valero is gradually shifting its focus from being a discount gasoline brand to becoming a premium brand. As part of that shift, Valero has begun to rebrand its Ultramar, Beacon, Total and Diamond Shamrock stations to the Valero brand. The Beacon and Shamrock brands are used by retailers as a low cost alternative to the premium Valero brand. (The Shamrock brand, in the Valero empire, is based on the former Shamrock Oil and Gas Company, which merged with Diamond Alkali in 1967 to form Diamond Shamrock .) The name Ultramar , while being eliminated in the U.S., will still be used as Valero's brand name in Canada. Valero introduced its updated Corner Store retail concept on December 28, 2007, opening the company's first 5,500-square-foot (510 m ² ) prototype in western San Antonio.

Valero issues its own private label credit cards for its stations through its credit card-only subsidiary, DSRM National Bank . The initials stand for "Diamond Shamrock Refining & Marketing", the unit of Diamond Shamrock which created it before being purchased by Valero.

History

Valero was created on January 1, 1980, as a spinoff from the Coastal States Gas Corporation. At the time, it was the largest corporate spin off in U.S. history. Valero took over the natural gas operations of the LoVaca Gathering Company, a defunct subsidiary of Coastal States Gas. The name Valero comes from Misión San Antonio de Valero , the mission founded in 1718 from which the city of San Antonio started, which is better known worldwide as The Alamo.

The company acquired a small oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1981, and began refining operations in 1984.

In 1997, Valero spun off its refining and retail divisions into a separate company, which kept the Valero name. At the same time, the remaining divisions, which consisted primarily of natural gas operations, were acquired by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Later that year, Valero acquired Basis Petroleum, which left it with four refineries in Texas and Louisiana.

Valero acquired a Paulsboro, New Jersey, refinery in 1998. This was the company's first refinery outside of the Gulf Coast area.

In 2000, Valero purchased ExxonMobil's Benicia, California, refinery and interests in 350 Exxon -branded service stations in California, mainly in the San Francisco Bay area. The company also began retailing gasoline under the Valero brand. In June 2001, the company acquired the Huntway Refining Company, along with two asphalt plants on the west coast.

On December 31 , 2001, Valero completed its acquisition of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock . This merger left Valero with over 4,700 retail sites in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. With this acquisition, Valero also received ownership of Shamrock Logistics L.P., which was renamed Valero L.P. This limited partnership owns and operates a 7,200 mi (11,587 km) pipeline network and 57 refined product terminals in the U.S., and is publicly traded (Valero maintained a 13.6 percent indirect interest through Valero GP Holdings, LLC, also publicly traded, which in 2006 it fully divested).

Starting in 2002, Valero has been expanding its marketing to the East Coast, specifically the Northeast and Florida, using the Valero brand.

On April 25 , 2005, Valero agreed to buy Premcor, Inc., for 8 billion in cash and stock to become the largest U.S. refiner, as record prices for gasoline and other fuels boost profits.

On June 30 , 2005, Valero announced it was beginning a two-year process of converting Diamond Shamrock stations to the Valero brand.

On May 5 , 2008, Valero agreed to buy 72 Albertson's gas stations.

On November 20 , 2009, Valero laid off 500 employees at its Delaware City, DE refinery due to profitability. It is reported that the refinery lost $1,000,000 per day since the beginning of the year.

Environmental record

The Political Economy Research Institute ranks Valero 28th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the United States. The ranking is based on the quantity (3.4 million pounds in 2005) and toxicity of the emissions.

Contracts

According to Robert Bryce, author and managing editor of Energy Tribune , Valero Energy Corp. has been awarded multiple multi-million dollar contracts by the U.S. Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) to provide fuel to Israel.

Image gallery

See also

• List of automotive fuel brands
• Valero Alamo Bowl
• Valero Texas Open

References

1. ^ "Corporate Offices." Valero. Retrieved on July 7, 2009.
2. ^ Mark Shenk (2008-02-11). "Oil Rises to 1-Month High on Refinery Shutdown, Cold Weather". Bloomberg.com (Bloomberg L.P.) . http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDWE8aQPn0UQ&refer=home . Retrieved 2008-07-09 . "Valero, the biggest U.S. refining company, said it is starting units at the Delaware City plant today."  
3. ^ http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B2EEF79CA%2D2302%2D4C16%2D8087%2D07A21B521581%7D
4. ^ DSRM National Bank CRA Performance Evaluation (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, June 7, 2004)
5. ^ (PERI) THE TOXIC 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United State
6. ^ http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/01/16/gaza_invasion/

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