Tesoro Corporation, known briefly as Andeavor, was a Fortune 100 and a ''Fortune'' Global 500 company headquartered in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, with 2017 annual revenues of $35 billion, and over 14,000 employees worldwide. Based on 2017 revenue, the company ranked No. 90 in the 2018 ''Fortune'' 500 list of the largest

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

corporations by total revenue. Tesoro was an independent refiner and marketer of

petroleum product Petroleum products are materials derived from crude oil (petroleum) as it is processed in oil refineries. Unlike petrochemicals, which are a collection of well-defined usually pure organic compounds, petroleum products are complex mixtures. Mos ...

s, operating ten

refineries A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries a ...

in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

with a combined rated crude oil capacity of approximately per day. Tesoro's retail-marketing system included approx. 3,000 branded retail gas stations, of which more than 595 were company-operated under its own Tesoro

brandname A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

, as well as

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

ARCO Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (b ...

, and USA Gasoline brands. Tesoro, known at the time as Andeavor, was acquired by

Marathon Petroleum Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an petroleum industry in the United States, American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a cor ...

on October 1, 2018.

History

Tesoro was founded in 1968 by Dr. Robert Van Osdell West Jr (1921–2006), and was primarily engaged in

petroleum exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...

and

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

. Tesoro began operating its first

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

, near Kenai, Alaska, in 1969. Tesoro became the first Fortune 500 company to be headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. '' Tesoro'' is the word for ''treasure'' (or ''treasury'') in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

. Beginning in the late 1990s, Tesoro grew through a series of

acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

and initiatives that created Tesoro Corporation, the company focusing on the core business of petroleum refining, marketing, maritime transportation and distribution. The first segment involved the operation of six petroleum refineries situated in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, and

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. For its marketing and distribution segment, Tesoro sold refined gas and fuel products in both bulk and wholesale markets. Acquisitions expanded refining capacity from to approximately . Prior to its acquisition by

in 2018, Tesoro was the third-largest independent petroleum refining and marketing company in the United States. The merger between the two companies formed the largest American refiner by capacity and the fifth in the world. Milestones in Tesoro's history are: * 1998: acquires second refinery (after Nikiski) in Kapolei,

along with petroleum terminals and approximately 30 retail stations in

from BHP Americas — also acquires the former

refinery at

Anacortes Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

; * 1999: sells

exploration Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and

operations; * 2001: purchases refineries in

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County, North Dakota, Morton County and the List of cities in North Dakota, eighth-most populous city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designat ...

, and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

from BP Amoco; * 2002: acquires Golden Eagle Refinery in

Martinez, California Martinez (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city in and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strai ...

from Ultramar ( Valero); * 2003: sells Tesoro Marine Services to Martin Midstream: Tesoro Marine Services were operating fueling and supply terminals servicing US Gulf Coast oil and gas exploration — also made a series of refinery acquisitions that boosted the company's capacity output and positioned it for future expansion in key growth markets throughout the Western United States; * 2005: largest capital expansion program in Tesoro Corporation's history and record earnings; * 2007: announcement of purchase of Shell's refinery at

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

refinery and approximately 250 Southern California retail stations; * 2007: Tesoro acquires USA Gasoline; * 2009: Tesoro employees move into a newly completed corporate campus in July; * 2011: Tesoro forms Tesoro Logistics LP (TLLP) as a

master limited partnership In the United States, a master limited partnership (MLP) or publicly traded partnership (PTP) is a publicly traded entity taxed as a partnership. It combines the tax benefits of a partnership with the liquidity of publicly traded securities. To o ...

; * 2011: Tesoro acquires 250

(Thrifty Style Stations) and Thrifty Stations in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

; * 2012: Tesoro changes the 250 ARCO (Thrifty Style Stations) and Thrifty Stations in Southern California to USA Gasoline; * 2013: Tesoro purchases the Carson refinery and the ARCO brand from BP; * 2013: Tesoro sells its Kapolei refinery to Par Petroleum (now Par Pacific Holdings); * 2016: Tesoro purchases Dakota Prairie Refining in

Dickinson, North Dakota Dickinson is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 25,679 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh most populous city in North Dakota. Dickinson, founded in 1881, is also home to Dickins ...

from WBI Energy; construction of the refinery was completed in the spring of 2015; * 2016: Tesoro Corp agrees to buy Western Refining for $4.1 billion; * 2016/17: Par Pacific Inc. rebrands its Tesoro and 76 gas stations as HELE; * Andeavor logo

2017: Tesoro announces its change of name to Andeavor following its acquisition of Western Refining; On August 1, 2017, the company changed its ticker symbol to "ANDV" from "TSO"; *2018: Andeavor announced its entering into a definitive merger agreement with

with Marathon Petroleum acquiring all of Andeavor's outstanding shares; the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

was closed on October 1.

Media controversy

Environmental record

Having taken over BP installations, researchers at the

Political Economy Research Institute The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) is an independent research unit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. According to its mission statement, it "...promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research". PERI was ...

identified Tesoro as being the 24th-largest corporate producer of

air pollution in the United States Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, Atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter, or biotic material, biological materials into the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms ...

, releasing roughly of toxic chemicals annually. Major pollutants emitted annually by the corporation were estimated to include more than of

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

, following which the

Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

named Tesoro a potentially responsible party for at least four

superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

toxic waste sites. Tesoro settled and/or closed each of the superfund sites where it was named as one of many responsible parties. Tesoro was listed as a ''de minimis'' contributor to a superfund site in Abbeville, LA, and the site has since been closed by the EPA. Tesoro gave over $1 million in support of California Proposition 23, which aimed to suspend the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Defenders of the Amazon forest in South America cite Tesoro for sourcing some of their crude oil from the Amazon. Three of Tesoro's refineries - Anacortes (WA), LA (CA) and Golden Eagle (CA), were known to process Amazonian crude oil.

Explosion

On April 2, 2010, an explosion at Tesoro's refinery in

Anacortes, Washington Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.Libyan crude oil, after the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi, in early April 2011 from the Vitol Group to supply its then-

an refinery.

References

External links

{{San Antonio 1968 establishments in Texas 2018 mergers and acquisitions Petroleum in Texas American corporate subsidiaries Companies based in San Antonio Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Economy of the Western United States Energy companies established in 1968 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1968 Oil companies of the United States Marathon Petroleum