Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO) is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio,
Texas, with 21,836 employees and annual revenue of more than US$90 billion.
The company owns and operates 17 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 nation'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.
Valero also retails gasoline branded as Valero, Shamrock,
Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar, Beacon, and Total. While this arm of the company
is the most visible to the public, it is, according to CEO Bill Klesse, "a very
small part of [Valero's] 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 new Road Runner retail
store concept on December 28, 2007, opening the company's first 5,500-square-foot
Road Runner store in western San Antonio. |
