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The story
Founded by William Greehey in 1980.1
Valero was established on January 1, 1980, as a spinoff of Coastal States Gas Corporation's Subsidiary, LoVaca Gathering Company. The company took over the natural gas operations of the LoVaca Gathering Company, later renamed the Valero Transmission Company. In the 1970s, the Coastal company faced litigation due to its inability to honor contracts to supply utilities around Texas due to a natural gas shortage. After six years, Coastal agreed to a $1.6 billion settlement, which included the establishment of Valero as a new company.
The name Valero comes from Mission San Antonio de Valero, the original name of the mission in the Alamo. The company acquired Corpus Christi Marine Services Company, a small barge company in Corpus Christi, Texas, in April 1981 when it purchased a stake in Saber Energy Inc. of Houston. In May 1985, Valero Refining and Marketing Company was born from Valero's subsidiary, Saber Energy Inc.
In 1997, Valero merged its natural gas service business with Pacific Gas and Electric Company and spun off its refining assets to form Valero Energy Corporation. At the same time, the remaining divisions, which consisted of natural gas operations, merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of PG&E. In May of that year, Valero Energy acquired three refineries from Basis Petroleum. The following year, the company expanded its operations by purchasing the Paulsboro Refinery in New Jersey from Mobil, making it the second-largest independent refiner in the U.S.
In 2000, Valero purchased the Benicia, California, refinery and interest 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, Valero acquired two asphalt plants on the West Coast.
In 2001, Valero completed its acquisition of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock. With this acquisition, the company also received ownership of Shamrock Logistics L.P., which was renamed Valero L.P. In 2006, Valero L.P. was spun off and renamed NuStar Energy. Starting in 2002, Valero has expanded its marketing to the East Coast, specifically the Northeast and Florida, using the Valero brand.
By 2003, Valero completed its acquisition of El Paso Corp's refinery, pipeline system and terminal assets in Corpus Christi and South Texas. On April 25, 2005, the company purchased Premcor, Inc., for $8 billion. In June 2005, Valero announced that it was beginning a two-year process of converting Diamond Shamrock stations to the Valero brand. And in 2008, the company bought 72 Albertsons gas stations.
In 2009, it was reported that Valero lost an average $1 million per day since the beginning of the year. In November of that year, the company was forced to lay off 500 employees, and subsequently began to permanently shut down its refinery in Delaware City, Delaware.
In 2009, Valero Energy Corporation entered the ethanol market by acquiring 7 ethanol plants in March, and another 3 ethanol plants, purchased in December, all located in the Midwest of the United States.
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In 2011, Valero Energy Corporation entered into a joint venture with a subsidiary of Darling Ingredients Inc. to establish Diamond Green Diesel Holdings (DGD). This venture resulted in the construction of a renewable diesel plant adjacent to Valero's refinery in St. Charles, Louisiana.
On March 11, 2011, Valero announced that it had agreed to a major European purchase from Chevron Corporation, Chevron's Pembroke Refinery in Wales together with marketing and logistical assets throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, which include 4 pipelines, 11 terminals, an aviation fuel business, about 1,000 retail outlets, inventory and other items.
In 2013, Valero spun off its retail operations into a new publicly traded company, CST Brands. Under long-term supply agreements, Valero continues to supply fuel to more than 7,000 retail locations, many of which use brand names owned by Valero. That same year, the company started renewable diesel production at the DGD joint venture plant next to Valero's St. Charles refinery in Louisiana.
A change to the logo, store canopy and facade was announced in April 2018. Known as "Vanguard", with various hues of blue, white, and yellow, Valero explained that applying the new design to all its stores would take several months to complete.
In 2021, DGD began expansion of the DGD St. Charles plant in 2019 and increased its renewable diesel capacity. In 2022, the second DGD plant, located next to Valero's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, began its operations.
At the beginning of 2026 it was announced that Valero would idle its Benicia, California refinery, but would continue supplying Northern California with gasoline through imports and existing inventories.
On March 23, 2026 an explosion and fire occurred at the Valero Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
From Wikipedia’s article on Valero Energy, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7