ALBANY, N.Y. -- With 18 refineries in North America, Valero Energy Corp. is a major wholesaler of gasoline. Now the San Antonio, Texas-based oil company is rolling out gas stations across the country, including the Albany, N.Y., area, reported the Albany Times Union.
They made a decision that they needed outlets, Ralph Bombardiere, executive director of the New York State Association of Service Stations & Repair Shops, told the newspaper. They're going to grow.
Richard Spiegel, president of SOS Fuels in Tuxedo, Orange County, [image-nocss] N.Y., said Valero has added about 400 stations in the Northeast in the last year. SOS has been supplying retail stations in eastern New York, including one in Troy and one in Queensbury, said the report.
Another station is being built on Western Avenue in Colonie, N.Y., but Spiegel said he would not be supplying that retailer.
Valero officials, in an e-mail reply to a request for information, told the Times Union that the greater Albany area, or Capital Region, is one of several strategic terminal-markets located throughout the mid-Atlantic region. It already has nine stations in the market, with short-term potential for another seven.
Bombardiere said the refiner's entry into the region should be good news for consumers. It's not bad for us, because it's another refiner that can add to the competition, he told the paper. Valero has been fairly competitive.
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