History
The El Paso refinery was originally two refineries across from each other on Trowbridge Avenue, one operated by Texaco, the other, larger, by Chevron Oil. In 1997 the company Refinery Holding was formed to manage the refineries; it purchased them outright in 2000. Western Refining purchased a pipeline system from Chevron capable of delivering 115,000 barrels of crude oil per day. In 2006 it became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.[19]
On August 28, 2006, Western Refining bought Giant Industries (GI) for $1.23 billion in cash, creating the fourth-largest publicly traded independent oil refiner in the USA. The combined company created the capacity to handle about 216,000 barrels a day from four refineries, about 84% more than Western's current capacity at the time.[20]
On November 12, 2013, Western acquired ACON Investments and TPG's ownership interests in Northern Tier Energy LP(NTI) for $775 million. This acquisition included the St. Paul Park Refinery which increased Western's refining barrel capacity by 89,500 barrels per day. It also acquired pipeline access to Bakken and Canadian crude oil plus product terminals, storage tanks, rail facilities and Mississippi river dockage. The company also gained ownership of retail assets that included SuperAmerica retail channel of 163 company operated and 74 franchised convenience stores.[21]
In addition to its refineries, Giant Industries, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, owned a crude-oil-gathering pipeline system based in Farmington, New Mexico, a fleet of crude-oil and finished-product truck transports and a chain of retail service stations and convenience stores in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona.
