Tesoro Corporation NYSE: TSO is a FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with 2004 annual revenues of $12.2 billion, assets of $4 billion, and more than 4,000 employees.

Tesoro is a leading independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, operating six refineries in the Western United States with a combined rated crude oil capacity of nearly 560,000 barrels per day. Tesoro’s retail-marketing system includes over 500 branded retail gas stations, of which more than 200 are company-operated under the Tesoro® and Mirastar® brands.

History

Tesoro was founded in 1968 as a company primarily engaged in petroleum exploration and production. In 1969, Tesoro began operating Alaska's first refinery, near Kenai. As of 2005, Tesoro is a FORTUNE 200 company and one of the largest independent petroleum refiners and marketers in the United States.

In the late-1990s, Tesoro methodically grew through a series of acquisitions and strategic initiatives that created Tesoro Corporation – a dynamic, competitive company focused on a single core business: petroleum refining and marketing. Strategic acquisitions expanded refining capacity from 72,000 barrels per day to nearly 560,000 barrels per day, almost an 800 percent increase in volume. This transformation included the following milestones:

• 1998: Acquired refineries in Kapolei, Hawaii and Anacortes, Washington.
• 1999: Sold exploration and production operations.
• 2001: Purchased refineries in Mandan, North Dakota and Salt Lake City, Utah.
• 2002: Acquired Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California.
• 2003: Sold marine services. 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 the company’s history; record earnings.