SAN ANTONIO & ALTHEIMER, Ark. -- New ownership and/or a new gasoline brand are giving 12 gas stations a second life and consumers new options when shopping around for gasoline.
Valero Energy Corp. has expanded its Southern California presence with two company-branded gas stations in the San Gabriel Valley, according to a report in the Pasadena Star-News. Meanwhile, 10 former Git-N-Go convenience stores closed by Mallard Express LLC in 2005 are being reopened under new ownership and a new name in Jefferson County, Ark., according to the Pine Bluff [image-nocss] Commercial.
Now known by Drive-N-Buy, the Jefferson County Shell stations are giving some customers a closer option when shopping for gas. At one of the stations, which recently celebrated its reopening, manager and owner Mojib Rahman said Altheimer, Ark., residents in Jefferson County have been very receptive to the resurgent business.
We have gotten a very good response so far, Rahman told the newspaper. I know that the people there needed it to open back up. A second Drive-N-Buy is expected to open in Altheimer today.
Rahman is in an owner-partnership with Drive-N-Buy Management Co. LLC, and he manages three stores. We are working on getting all of them back and running again, adding all the stores will be ready to go soon.
For customers in smaller towns like Altheimer and Humnoke, Ark., a closed gas station can mean residents having to travel miles more for fuel. Altheimer Mayor Bruce Robinson said having to leave the city and travel as far as England, Ark., to get gas has been difficult on senior citizens.
The city has also had to endure financial hardship because the police and maintenance departments have had to drive all the way to Pine Bluff to gas up the city vehicles, he said. Maybe this will put a spark back into Altheimer.
A site in Grady, Ark., opened this week, and a Humnoke store is scheduled to open this month.
The convenience stores were closed in 2005 by Mallard Express LLC. In July 2006, Sigma Properties LLC purchased the stores and began the process of re-opening the businesses. The stores will offer fuel, and traditional convenience-store items.
Meanwhile, the two rebranded Valero gas stations opened in Southern California during the past two months. Both are company-branded wholesale locations operated by a third-party owner, said Valero spokesman Bill Day. "We don't own those stations, but they have the Valero name and carry Valero gas," he told the Pasadena Star-News.
Bill Hosn, an assistant manager for the two stations, said he switched from Exxon to Valero because the Valero brand allows him to sell gas to customers at a lower price, and that means more business.
"Before I changed, the gas was 15 to 20 cents higher," he told the newspaper. "Business has picked up by five times."
Valero entered the California market in 2000 when it bought an Exxon refinery in Benicia in the Bay Area. A year later, the company acquired Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp.
"That gave us close to 5,000 company-owned and -branded stations," Day said. "Today we have about 5,800 stations. About 1,000 of those 5,800 locations are company-owned stores."
Valero employs about 22,000 people companywide and last year generated more than $90 billion in revenue. With total assets of $38 billion and a refining capacity of 3.3 million barrels per day, San Antonio-based Valero is now the largest refiner in North America.
The company's Benicia refinery produces 1% of the clean-burning California Air Resources Board (CARB) gasoline used in California and 25% of the CARB gas used in the San Francisco Bay area.
Valero operates a refinery in Wilmington, which processes a blend of California and foreign crude oil, plus unfinished feedstocks from local and foreign sources. The Wilmington plant is connected by pipeline to marine terminals and dock facilities that can be utilized for movement and storage of crude oil and other products. The refinery also operates a refined product marine terminal and dock facility, leased from the Port of Los Angeles and city of Los Angeles.
"We are now spread out pretty much coast to coast, and all of the stores are the Valero brand," Day said. "Before, we had Beacon, Diamond Shamrock, Ultramar and some Total stations."
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