Valero to Sell or Lease 39 Sites

WICHITA, Kan -- San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. is negotiating with two Kansas companies that will buy or lease 39 Total sites, including 12 in Wichita. The deal includes upgrading to Diamond Shamrock lighting, signage and decor, said Valero spokeswoman Joanna Weidman.

Weidman said the stores in question are those which Valero acquired in a merger with Ultramar Diamond Shamrock at the end of 2001.

Crescent Oil, based in Independence, will lease 22 of the sites, Weidman said. Fleming Petroleum, based in Pittsburg, Kan, will buy the other 17. Valero will continue to sell fuel to the stations and the operators will contract for brand name products and programs such as credit cards, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle reported.

Weidman said the deal with Fleming is expected to close in June and the leases with Crescent will be completed over the next three weeks on a store-by-store basis. She said Valero would pay for the upgrades of all the stores.

Fleming Petroleum president Ed Roitz said his company is very excited about the new image and thinks that its customers will be as well. The bulk of the stores Fleming is acquiring are in the Kansas City area.

In addition to the Kansas City area and Wichita, the stores are in several towns scattered across Kansas, Weidman said. All 39 of the Kansas stores have convenience stores attached.

"Some of the smaller ones are not as modern, like they may not have canopies or pay-at-the-pump features," she said. "But all of them have convenience stores."

Valero Energy is the United States' leading independent oil refiner. The company owns 12 refineries in the United States and Canada and operates 1,400 retail sites as well as wholesale markets in 40 U.S. states, Canada and Latin America.