The Valero Energy Corporation

The Valero Energy Corporation owns and operates 17 oil refineries in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. This Fortune 500 company is based in San Antonio, Texas. Valero has a throughput capacity of 3.3 million barrels per day and this makes this company the biggest oil refiner in North America. 

 

Valero operates US refineries in Texas, California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, New Jersey, and Louisiana. 

 

More recently, Valero has become one of America’s largest retail operators with more than 5,000 retail outlets in the US, Canada, and the Caribbean. Some brand names that Valero is behind include Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar, Shamrock and Beacon.

 

Valero came into existence on January 1, 1980 as a subsidiary of the Coastal States Gas Corporation. When this happened, it was the biggest spin-off to occur in US history. After the spin-off, Valero assumed the natural gas portion of the LoVaca Gathering Company, which was another subsidiary of Coastal States Gas. 

 

Valero takes its name from the Alamo (the Mission San Antonio de Valero). 

 

Valero began a separate company to house its refining and retail divisions in 1997. This company also kept the Valero name. The remaining divisions of Valero consist mostly of natural gas operations and these have been acquired by Pacific Gas and Electric.  

In 1998 Valero next acquired a refinery in New Jersey. This was Valero’s first refinery acquisition outside of the Gulf Coast area.

In 2000 Valero bought a California refinery from ExxonMobil. This gave Valero another refinery and interests in 350 Exxon-branded service stations in California. The company also began retailing gasoline under the Valero brand at this time.

In June 2001 Valero bought the Huntway Refining Company and two asphalt plants located on the west coast.

In 2006 Valero was named the “2006 Convenience Store Chain of the Year” by Convenience Store Decisions magazine. This is a popular retail industry trade magazine.

Valero has been named the 28^th most toxic corporation in America because they have been found to release approximately 3,363,294 pounds of toxic chemicals into the air every year. They have also been sued numerous times because of alleged environmental damage. Valero was a defendant in suits both in 2000 and 2001 that involved groundwater contamination. In 2005, Valero agreed to reduce their yearly harmful emissions by 44,000 tons each year for all of their refineries.

Most recently, Valero has been named the Number 1 Best Big Company to Work For in America by Fortune Magazine. Editors of Fortune Magazine chose Valero because they were impressed with the company’s policy of making its corporate jet available to employees who are facing medical emergencies. Valero also covers 100 percent of its employees’ health insurance premiums.

Valero has 17,488 American employees with the most common salaried job being the store manager for retail store divisions. The company pays an average $97,730 for this position.