Beaufort County residents can expect to see a change at their local Wilco Hess gas stations.

The bright green stations have now changed to a cherry red logo for Speedway, a switch that has been in the works for more than a year.

In May 2014, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of Speedway LLC, announced its decision to take over the retail aspect of Hess Corporation, which includes its convenience stores, transport operations and shipper history, according to a press release. The acquisition was a done deal as of September 2014.

Hess Corp. owned a slew of convenience stores along the East Coast, as well as the southeastern United States, and continues operations in petroleum and oil business. Speedway operates out of Ohio, and until now, spanned nine states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.

The acquisition deal was a $2.82 billion transaction, the press release stated.

“This acquisition will be transformative for MPC and Speedway as it will significantly expand our retail presence from nine to 23 states through these premier Hess locations throughout the East Coast and Southeast,” said Marathon President and Chief Executive Officer Gary R. Heminger in the release.

A presentation report from Marathon Petroleum Corp. estimated that about 500 stores in the Northeast would be converted by the end of October. The company plans to convert about 500 more stores in the Southeast by December 2016, including the ones in Beaufort County, which began conversion late last week and early this week.

Resident Sean Wilder said he doesn’t think the change in the name is a big deal, and it didn’t affect his decision as to where he fills up his gas tank.

“Same place, different name,” he said.

Tony Kenney, president of Speedway, said in the press release that the deal would expand Speedway to be the largest company-owned convenience store chain in the nation in revenue and the second largest by the number of stores.

“We will apply our merchandise sales focus to deliver both sales and margin growth and leverage Hess’ leadership in fuel sales in these markets,” he said.

“While the ID signs may have changed, customers will be greeted by the same friendly, helpful store associates they have come to know and appreciate,” said Stefanie Griffith, communications manager at Marathon. “In the coming months, you will likely see additional upgrades to further enhance the customer experience at these locations.”