Tesoro Alaska: Customer-driven strategies fuel tomorrow's standards today.

• Author: Parmelee, Catherine
• Position: 2002 Corporate 100 - Brief Article

The Tesoro name has been helping fuel Alaska for more than three decades. Tesoro was the first Alaska refiner to produce gasoline from North Slope crude oil after it began to be shipped via pipeline to Valdez, and Tesoro Alaska's Kenai refinery was one of the state's first to produce petroleum products from Cook Inlet crude oil in 1969. Today, more than 125 Tesoro-brand retail locations, stretching from the North Slope to Alaska's Panhandle, market fuels produced at the Kenai plant.

Tesoro Alaska is part of Tesoro Petroleum Corp., a natural resource company headquartered in Texas, engaged in the refining, distribution and marketing of petroleum products, and providing marine logistic services. With assets exceeding $2 billion and annual revenues reaching beyond $5 billion, Tesoro is one of the largest independent refining and marketing companies in the western U.S. Operations include, among other things, retail services with some 675 locations, commercial sales of jet and marine fuels, and five refineries with combined crude capacity of 390,000 barrels per day. Acquisition of Tesoro's sixth refinery, Golden Eagle near California's San Francisco Bay, is pending regulatory approval.

Current crude capacity at the company's Kenai refinery is 72,000 barrels per day, while throughput rates in recent years have flowed around 50,000 barrels per day. The 70-mile Kenal Pipe Line links the refinery to the company's Anchorage terminal and the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Three Alaska terminals distribute product from the refinery to wholesalers and jobbers--wholesalers who supply and/or own independent retail locations. Most of the 130 Tesoro retail locations in Alaska are independent retailers who hold marketing agreements with Tesoro Alaska; 30 locations are company-owned.

Tesoro uses customer-driven strategies to create opportunities for customers and shareholders through changes occurring in today's energy industry. These strategies encompass areas of safety, product quality and meeting evolving needs.

"We recognize Alaskans expect strong environmental stewardship and safety from our operations," said Gene Burden, president, Tesoro Alaska Business Unit. "We've listened and demonstrated our commitment to the environment and safe operations by our actions. One example: We already operate double-hulled oil tankers in Alaska that meet 2013 standards."

Other safety strides include participation in the founding of CISPRI, Cook Inlet Spill...