Western Refining Follows Northern Tier Merger With Layoffs

EL PASO, Texas — Western Refining Inc. laid off employees the week of Aug. 15 following the completion of its merger with former SuperAmerica LLC parent Northern Tier Energy LP.

“This is a part of the merger with Northern Tier Energy,” Gary Hanson, Western Refining spokesman, told El Paso Inc. “So now, we’re reassessing our business, looking for some synergies and trying to make sure we are correctly sized.”

According to the news outlet, the number of employees who were laid off was unknown. El Paso Inc. believed as high as 10 percent of the company’s workforce could have been let go.

“I can’t get into specifics, but it was significantly less than the number we talked about,” Hanson told the news outlet. “We still have over 800 employees in El Paso.”

Hanson added that for the people who were let go, Western Refining “made sure that we had a generous severance package with benefits and compensation.”

Hanson stressed the layoffs were only merger-related and has nothing to do Western Refining’s stock price decline in recent weeks.

The Western Refining-Northern Tier merger was completed on June 24. According to Hanson, Western Refining now has nearly 550 convenience stores that are company owned or contracted, primarily under the SuperAmerica, Giant, Mustang, Sundial and Howdy’s brand names. 

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