Tesoro /

Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO) is a Fortune 100 and a Fortune Global 500 company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with 2008 annual revenues of $28.3 billion, and approximately 5,600 employees. Tesoro is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, operating seven refineries in the Western United States with a combined rated crude oil capacity of approximately 664,000 barrels per day. Tesoro’s retail-marketing system includes over 870 branded retail gas stations, of which more than 380 are company-operated under the Tesoro, Shell, Mirastar and USA Gasoline brands. Tesoro was founded in 1968 by Dr. Robert V. West Jr, as a company primarily engaged in petroleum exploration and production (the name Tesoro is Spanish for "treasure"). In 1969, Tesoro began operating its first refinery, near Kenai, Alaska. Tesoro would eventually become the first Fortune 500 company ever headquartered in San Antonio. In the late 1990s, Tesoro grew through a series of acquisitions and initiatives that created Tesoro Corporation – the company focuses on a single core business: petroleum refining and marketing. Acquisitions expanded refining capacity from 72,000 barrels per day (11,400 m/d)