Parkland Industries was founded as Parkland Beef Industries, a publicly tradedcattle feedlot. In 1975, it was acquired by Jack Donald, and renamed Parkland Industries. Donald had previously founded and sold a chain of retail gas stations called Parkland Oil Products Ltd. At Parkland Industries, Donald pivoted the company from cattle to fuel retailing; it established Fas Gas Plus, a western Canadian gas station chain, in 1977. In its early years, the company was headquartered in Red Deer, Alberta; it moved to Calgary in the mid-2010s. In the following 30 years, the company grew significantly, in the context of offloading of retail gas operations by larger, integrated oil companies. By the end of 2012, the company had 720 gas stations and $4.1 billion in annual revenue. In 2010, it renamed itself Parkland Fuel Corporation. In 2013, Parkland acquired Elbow River Marketing, with 1,400 rail cars. in late 2014, it announced the acquisition of Pioneer Energy, an Ontario gas station chain with 393 stations, for $378 million. The deal increased the company's station count to over 1000, and was part of a larger acquisition strategy by the company. In August 2016, the company announced the acquisition of most of CST Brands' Canadian assets for $965 million, as part of that company's acquisition by Alimentation Couche-Tard for $4 billion. This included the majority of the Ultramar chain, including 490 retail locations and 72 cardlocks in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The sale gave Parkland a total of just over 1,500 retail locations. As part of Imperial Oil's exit from retail location ownership, Parkland also acquired the remaining On the Run franchise network, Canadian trademarks, and 17 Esso-branded gas stations. In 2017, Parkland acquired Chevron's Canadian downstream fuel operations for $1.5 billion. As part of the deal, the company acquired the Burnaby Refinery in Burnaby, British Columbia, and increased its station count to 1800. In October 2018, Parkland announced it would acquire 75% of SOL Investements, a retail gas station operator based in the Caribbean, for $1.57 billion.
Operations
Parkland's three businesses are retail gas stations, commercial fuel distribution, and fuel supply and wholesaling. Its retail gas station brands in Canada include Fas Gas Plus, Pioneer, Ultramar, Chevron and Race Trac. The company also runs a number of gas stations under the Esso banner. As of the end of 2017, the company has 1848 stations in its network, of which it owns 596. Unlike gas retailing operations owned by integrated oil and gas companies, which generally buy from a single supplier, Parkland sources its fuel from multiple suppliers. In 2016, Parkland acquired the On the Run brand and franchise network in Canada from Imperial Oil. The company has since begun to utilize On the Run inconjunction with its own retail petroleum brands to leverage its recognition, and introduced a refreshed version of the brand in 2018. In addition to its retail arm, Parkland distributes fuel, including propane, diesel, and heating oil, to mainly commercial customers. It operates under various brands, including Bluewave Energy, Sparlings, and Ultramar.
