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Every day, we are proud of the products we deliver – they are essential, reliable and economical. And our people build better communities.
Bill Klesse
Chairman, President and CEO
Commitment to Excellence
Commitment to Excellence is our governing principle. We set the highest standards in all aspects of our business to ensure our efforts will continue to provide quality products to meet demand, as well as leadership in community service.
Our products do improve people's lives.
Gasoline, diesel, heating oil, jet fuel, lubricants and hundreds of petrochemical building blocks greatly enhance our world. The fuels produced by Valero give consumers the freedom to drive to work or play. Our products help build the roads and highways that connect our cities and towns. We provide a domestic fuel supply for our military. From fuels to asphalt, polymers to products that make plastics, Valero is a vehicle for progress.
But we know it is not enough for us to be a better refiner and marketer – we strive to be a better employer and neighbor, too. Community involvement continues to be a centerpiece of our culture, and our employees make a true difference in each of their communities through their volunteerism and giving.
As we fulfill our vision to be a world-class competitor in the global energy business, we will do so in the safest way while continuing to nurture vibrant communities around our facilities and demonstrating improved environmental performance. The vision and dedication shared by our employees reflect this commitment, which means providing industry leadership in all that we do. |
It’s easy to sum up what it means to be a successful business: Improving lives matters. At Valero, improving lives is what drives all of us to succeed. It’s why we strive to be excellent in all that we do, and why we continue to think big in our charitable efforts. The Valero Texas Open and Benefit for Children Golf Classic are as big as it gets. We couldn’t be more proud.
Mike Crownover
Senior Vice President-Human Resources
2012 Company Chair, Valero Texas Open
This year, the Valero Texas Open celebrated its 90th anniversary. It’s a remarkable milestone that highlights humble roots and a great San Antonio tradition.
And while we love the game of golf, Valero’s partnership is about much more than fairways and fantastic golfers. We extended our sponsorship of the Valero Texas Open through 2018 because of the opportunity that exists to improve children’s lives.
Through the generosity of fans and our business partners, this tournament is a lifeline of support for hundreds of children’s charities across America. Together with the Valero Benefit for Children Golf Classic, this year’s tournament raised another $9 million for kids across the U.S. We continue to be a pacesetter on the PGA TOUR for charitable contributions, and have raised $71.5 million since Valero became the tournament’s title sponsor in 2002.
This year’s Valero Texas Open Benefit for Children Golf Classic took place April 23, capping off a week of exciting PGA action at the 2012 Valero Texas Open. On behalf of everyone at Valero, thank you to all of the players and congratulations to our new champion, Ben Curtis of Stow, Ohio. And thanks to the hundreds of tireless volunteers who helped pull off an extraordinary week of golf and goodwill.
We look forward every year to raising funds for children’s charities through our partnership with the Valero Texas Open. And we are proud to carry on another success story in 2012 - improving lives, one child at a time. |
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Safety is more than a priority - it drives our decision-making.
Ellen Williams
Vice President-Occupational & Process Safety
Health & Safety
Our occupational and process safety programs are integrated into every facet of our business, and they serve as governing principles for our operations.
They are successful because we promote a culture where safety considerations are integrated into our daily activities. It includes all employees, from executive management to the newest hires.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) and our employees are partners in helping us make our plants safer. Under Voluntary Protection Programs, or VPP, we have made it our goal to have each of our U.S. refineries designated as “Star Sites,” the agencies’ highest site safety designation. We have nine VPP Star Sites in our refining system – about one-third of all refining Star Sites nationally. Many of our refinery contractors also are Star Site-approved, as are our Corpus Christi and Houston Asphalt Terminals.
Valero refineries are focused on continuous improvements to process safety, which is helping us achieve our overall goal of safe, stable and reliable operations. In 2008, we introduced our Commitment to Excellence Management System (CTEMS) as a standardized framework for operational excellence. It continues to this day. The programs developed as part of CTEMS provide a standardized and disciplined approach to achieving our safety objectives.
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Whether at the pump or inside our stores, customers are our first priority. Our customers must see quality and value in every one of our products. That means providing top-notch customer service, whether delivering premium fuels at competitive prices or high-quality snacks, drinks and meals on-the-go.
Gary Arthur
President, Valero Retail Holdings
Through dedicated employees and loyal customers across the country, Valero Retail continues to celebrate success despite a slow recovery in the economy.
We work hard to stay focused on the most important aspect of the convenience business – our customers. We constantly evaluate product offerings, store design and fuel mix to meet customers’ expectations, and we strive to deliver quality and value in all that we do. The result has been an expanding customer mix and a solid base of loyal core customers.
We’re committed to ensuring that customers receive high-quality fuels, delivered in an environmentally responsible manner. Today, all of our gasoline is blended with ethanol. E85, a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol with gasoline, is being added to new stores as they are built.
Our store employees are critical to satisfying customers. Competitive pay and benefits, along with programs aimed at recognizing employees for excellence, have created a spirited group of store employees whose low turnover rate rivals the best in our industry. Our employees have maintained a deep commitment to their communities as well, donating thousands of hours each year to local projects and nonprofit agencies. Annually, we conduct two national fundraising campaigns and, thanks to the generosity of caring customers, we raised a record-breaking $2.28 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and $1.88 million for the Children’s Miracle Network during the past year. Our company is deeply grateful for the caring spirit and dedicated efforts of our store employees in conducting these campaigns. The funds raised support important medical treatment and research to help fight diseases and conditions afflicting many of our nation’s children and young adults.
Our U.S. company-owned and -operated chain of Corner Stores is committed to everything we do, from developing a high-quality line of value-oriented private label products under the Fresh Choices, U Force and Cibolo Mountain family of brands to the construction of new, larger stores that offer our customers a wider variety and enhanced shopping experience.
Everywhere our customers turn, they will find only the best in our business. That is our promise and our mission for the future: to win every customer, every day. |
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We continue to make significant expenditures for environmental initiatives, demonstrating our commitment to a cleaner environment.
Kirk Saffell
Senior Vice President-Health, Safety & Environmental
The Environment
We are committed to producing environmentally clean products, while striving to improve and enhance the environmental quality of our operations within our local communities.
Valero is investing in an array of improvements such as new-generation flue-gas scrubbers and flare-gas recovery systems that dramatically reduce emissions.
State-of-the-art scrubbers at most of our refineries significantly decrease sulfur dioxide emissions from our main processing units – a massive technology improvement from just a few years ago. Other improvements include infrared technology that affords us the ability to quickly find and repair leaks of gaseous hydrocarbons, thereby reducing emissions into the environment.
Valero also is committed to protecting water resources. Since 2005, the company has spent up to $70 million per year for capital improvements under a program to reduce waste-water discharge, and is also focused on reducing all spills to water.
Because of these and other efforts, Valero has achieved a 59 percent reduction in environmental incidents since 2006, and has received considerable recognition for overall environmental stewardship. |
Valero refineries have made significant progress in key reliability measures, which not only makes them more competitive in the industry but helps them achieve our goal of safe, stable and reliable operations.
Guy Young
Vice President-Reliability
Valero ranks in the first quartile, or top 25 percent, of U.S. refineries in mechanical availability, the highest-level indicator of refinery reliability, referring to the percentage of time units are available for scheduled operation.
Reliability improvement is driven by intense reliability assessments to identify areas and issues that could keep a unit, process or plant out of service. Valero’s goal is to continuously reduce incidents by focusing first on the main causes of unplanned shutdowns that also can lead to injury: piping and equipment leaks, and rotating equipment and electrical failures.
Our Materials and Inspection Network (MAIN) team addresses common corrosion, metallurgy and inspection issues with refinery pressure equipment. For example, a comprehensive program of "Retro PMI," or retrospective positive material identification, tests piping and other fixed equipment to identify their metal composition to ensure it is the correct material and to guard against corrosion.
Under Valero's Rotating Equipment Reliability Network at refineries, stepped-up inspections and other measures have significantly expanded the time between needed repairs. There has also been steady improvement in electrical reliability at Valero refineries, under Valero's stringent Electrical Safety and Reliability Network (ESARN) standards, ramping up preventive maintenance of electrical equipment.
All programs are intended to move Valero’s refinery operations to more predictable and continually improving performance to ensure the highest level of reliability and safety. |
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Valero understands the importance of pursuing alternative-energy opportunities to protect the environment, enhance our energy security and create domestic jobs.
Jim Gillingham
Senior Vice President
Alternative Energy
Valero's efforts in alternative energy range from production of corn ethanol to wind energy to investments in emerging biofuels development.
Valero entered the renewable fuels business and became the first traditional refiner to invest in large-scale ethanol production with the acquisition of seven state-of-the-art ethanol plants in the Midwest in spring 2009 – under subsidiary Valero Renewable Fuels LLC, or Valero Renewables for short. We acquired three additional plants in early 2010, and now are one of America's largest ethanol producers at 1.2 billion gallons per year.
Ethanol is a clean-burning, high-octane renewable fuel produced by fermenting converted corn starch with yeast. Valero blends ethanol with its gasoline, resulting in a cleaner-burning product. In addition, the product left after the ethanol is removed from the fermented corn mash is solid as a valuable livestock feed called distillers grains.
Under Sunray Wind, Valero also completed construction of 33 wind turbines in the Texas Panhandle capable of producing 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to run our McKee Refinery next door under peak wind conditions. And we have investments in several companies working to commercialize emerging alternative biofuels technologies from sources including municipal-landfill solid waste, energy crops, cellulosic materials, animal-fat grease and used cooking oil. |
Valero knows that being a good operator also means being a good neighbor.
Sylvia Rodriguez
Director-Community Relations
Community
We are committed to taking a leadership role in the communities where we live and work by providing company support and encouraging employee involvement.
We demonstrate our commitment to all of our communities through a variety of philanthropic efforts, volunteer activities and educational support programs.
For example, Valero and its employees pledged $11.3 million to the United Way for 2012. We helped raise $9 million for children's charities nationwide through the 2012 Valero Texas Open and Benefit for Children Golf Classic, in connection with the PGA TOUR. The contribution always is among the largest charity gifts of any tournament on the PGA TOUR. All told, Valero and its philanthropic arm – the Valero Energy Foundation – annually generate more than $43 million through direct donations or fundraising to improve the lives of those who live in or near the communities where Valero has major operations.
In addition to financial support, Valero employees logged more than 143,000 volunteer hours in 2011 for hundreds of community projects, including building homes for Habitat for Humanity, coordinating food drives for local food banks, mentoring at-risk youths, supporting wounded soldiers and children's shelters, and providing meals to needy children and senior citizens. More than 200 nonprofit boards nationwide include a Valero employee. Our company believes in social responsibility, and we are proud of the impact our caring employees have on communities where they live and work.
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Valero believes that an investment in its employees – from competitive pay and best-in-class benefits to a caring company culture – is an investment in the future of Valero and its communities.
Ruth Pina
Vice President-HR Employee Relations
Employees
Our employees are our No. 1 asset. We are committed to providing a challenging, enjoyable and rewarding work environment which fosters creative thinking, teamwork, open communication, respect and opportunity for individual professional growth and development.
From top management to part-timers, Valero's workforce is the heart of its success.
Resources that fuel growth and job satisfaction are critical. Core competencies, communicated through a systemwide learning and development program and nurtured by respect for the individual, help employees understand the expectations of the company and realize the breadth of opportunity that exists in their career tracks. Valero is thankful to have the support of approximately 22,000 employees who, year after year, earn special industry and community recognition for the company.
Valero is proud to employ hard-working individuals with incredible dedication. The company is honored to be an employer of choice in the refining industry, and its global family of employees continues to invest time and talent to achieve returns for shareholders and communities alike. |
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