Valley Oil Company's founder, Arnold "Pete" Christiansen, began his career in the petroleum industry as a mail clerk and, later, as a truck driver for Shell Oil. Tasked with delivering petroleum products to local farms, businesses, and even Hearst Castle, he quickly formed friendships with his customers. When he started his own company in 1947, Pete Christiansen relied on those friendships to build his company from the ground up.

Pete Christiansen founded Valley Oil Company with a desire to serve customers with a warm friendly smile. He started small, working from a quanset hut office and delivering fuel, oil, kerosene, lubricants, and agricultural products to farmers and local businesses in his Chevy pickup truck (shown above). When his son, Bob, was old enough, he helped out during the summer in high school and college.

As the valley evolved, so did Pete's business. Farmers and florists had left the area, to be replaced first by manufacturing plants, then by high tech companies. Pete passed the company down to the current owners - son, Bob Christiansen, and Bob's best friend and business partner, Bob Buck - in 1974. As Valley Oil Company grew from just two to four to forty employees, it kept up with the changing needs of its customers while adhering to Pete's founding mission to meet and exceed the customer's needs and rely on strong personal relationships with its customers.

Over the past 60+ years, Valley Oil Company has developed into the Bay Area's premier on-site fueling service, both within the Bay Area and into the greater Bay Area regions, with over 20 trucks servicing retail gas stations, construction sites, commercial and industrial accounts, municipalities, hospitals, and private residences.

Notable sites that Valley Oil Company has serviced from ground up production in recent years include PacBell Park (home of the San Francisco Giants), Levi's Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers), SFO Airport Terminal, San Jose Minetta Airport Terminal, Metcalf Power Plant, Solyndra, BART Extension, Stanford Football Stadium, Apple Campus 2, CISCO Systems, Equinix, the Bay Bridge, Doyle Drive Expansion (State Route 101 SF), and many more.

Valley Oil Company's commitment to service extends beyond its customer relationships into the local community. Pete Christiansen's focus on community outreach included years of service on the board of directors for Los Altos High School, Foothill College, and De Anza College. Today, Bob Christiansen continues the tradition, having served on the board of directors of Alliance Petroleum Corporation - a cooperative effort of over 125 independent fuel distributors across California, Nevada, and Arizona - since 1978. In this role, Bob helps small petroleum companies keep up with the regulations and frequent changes in this rapidly transforming industry.

Looking to the future, Valley Oil Company continues to focus on providing innovative energy solutions and excellent service to its customers across the greater Bay Area.