Valero: Operations and projects
Valero Energy Corporation: Operations and projects
Refining and marketing
Valero is the world’s largest independent petroleum refiner with 16 refineries. The majority of the company's operations are focussed on the business of taking crude oil from various sources, processing it at its refineries to produce gasoline (petrol), diesel, jet fuel, asphalt, petrochemicals, and other products, then selling either on the market or directly to the consumer through its 6,800 retail outlets.
Valero 'Renewables'
Valero also produces ethanol from ten plants in the US by fermenting corn starch with yeast. It refers to this side of its business as Valero Renewables, although many see bio-ethanol as neither environmentally nor socially sustainable (for more information see 'biolfuels' in 'corporate crimes' section).
Sunray Wind
In an apparent attempt to improve its green credentials, Valero built a 33 turbine wind farm outside its McKee Refinery. However, comparing one 50 megawatt wind farm to the three million barrels of crude that Valero processes each day, its obvious where the company's priorities lie.
Pembroke Refinery
In the summer of 2011, Valero expanded into Western Europe with the acquisition of Pembroke Refinery in Wales from Chevron. The refinery has a throughput capacity of 270,000 barrels per day and is one of the most complex in Western Europe, capable of processing heavy crudes, such as those produced from the tar sands in Canada (see below).
The $730 million deal (approx £450m) included ownership interests in four major pipelines and 11 fuel terminals, a 14,000 barrel per day aviation fuels business, and more than 1,000 Texaco-branded service stations in the UK and Ireland.
The purchase of the Pembroke refinery in the UK, along with the completion of the Keystone XL pipeline in North America would put Valero in an ideal position to import diesel made from tar sands to European markets (see 'Valero and tar sands' section)
Sources: [1]
References
[1]www.valero.com/OurBusiness/Pages/Home.aspx