Ultramar is an Eastern Canadian gas and home fuel retailer, with its head office located in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. Ultramar operates gas stations and home fuel delivery in Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.

History

British oil company Ultramar plc established operations in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 1961. Retail stations were originally branded "Golden Eagle".Ultramar: Our history
Its refinery in

Lévis, Quebec Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec and the Pierre-Laporte, connect western Lévis wit ...

was built ten years later. From 1979 to 1996, Ultramar grew by acquiring stations from several other companies, including Canadian fuel marketers

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...

Canada, Gulf Canada, Sergaz,

Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations ...

and

Spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

. In 1981, Ultramar acquired

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

-based Beacon Oil Company. It retained the name. In 1990, it acquired the

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of ...

refinery with the purchase of other assets of

Canada. In 1991, Lasmo, a British oil company, bought Ultramar plc and in 1992 Lasmo spun off the North American refining and marketing operations which became known as ''Ultramar Corporation''. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, Ultramar acquired Sergaz (founded in 1971 by André Ducharme) and Sunoco's Quebec gas stations. Some gas stations still operate under Sergaz but most were closed. In 1996, Ultramar Corporation merged with Diamond Shamrock to form ''Ultramar Diamond Shamrock''. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, the Sunoco name was withdrawn from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, and all stations converted to the Ultramar brand. The refinery in Lévis was renamed in honour of retired Ultramar Diamond Shamrock CEO Jean Gaulin in 2001. On December 31, 2001,

Valero Energy Corporation Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products, and power. It is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Throughout the United States and Can ...

completed its acquisition of Ultramar Diamond Shamrock. On May 1, 2013, Ultramar was spun off from Valero into CST Brands. Following the 2016 purchase of CST by Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Ultramar brand and most of CST's Canadian assets were acquired by Parkland Fuel. Couche-Tard retained 36 Ultramar stations in Atlantic Canada. In June 2018, Couche-Tard and its partner

Irving Oil Irving Oil Ltd. is a Canadian gasoline, oil, and natural gas producing and exporting company. Considered part of the Irving Group of Companies, it was founded by entrepreneur K.C. Irving, Kenneth "K.C." Irving and is privately owned by his son, A ...

announced that these stations would become Circle K locations with Irving as fuel supplier, and that 13 of them would be sold to Irving outright—with Couche-Tard operating them under a lease as with most other Irving locations. In October 2019, Ultramar became part of Parkland's new national

loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...

Journie.

Operations

Ultramar was also active in industrial sales and wholesale supply.

Statistics

Ultramar had 983 service stations, 87 truck stop facilities and 169,000 home

heating oil Heating oil is any petroleum product or other oil used for heating; a fuel oil. Most commonly, it refers to low viscosity grades of fuel oil used for furnaces or boilers use for home heating and in other buildings. Home heating oil is often ...

customers. It directly employed 3,600 people and indirectly employed 10,000. The refinery in Lévis produced 265,000 barrels (or 41.5 million litres) per day.

References

External links

* {{official, www.ultramar.ca Oil companies of Canada Companies based in Montreal Automotive fuel retailers Retail companies established in 1961 British brands Canadian brands Gas stations in Canada Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies 1991 mergers and acquisitions 1996 mergers and acquisitions 2001 mergers and acquisitions 2013 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions