Green Car Congress: BP to sell Carson refinery and ARCO retail ...

BP to sell Carson refinery and ARCO retail network in US Southwest to Tesoro for $2.5B

BP has reached agreement to sell its Carson, California refinery and related logistics and marketing assets in the region to Tesoro Corporation for $2.5 billion in cash (including the estimated value of hydrocarbon inventories and subject to post-closing adjustments) as part of a previously announced plan to reshape BP?s US fuels business.

Subject to regulatory and other approvals, Tesoro will acquire the 266,000 barrel per day refinery near Los Angeles as well as the associated logistics network of pipelines and storage terminals and the ARCO-branded retail marketing network in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. The sale also includes BP's interests in associated cogeneration and coke calcining operations. The closing is expected to happen before mid-2013.

Carson refinery products and production (approximations)
Gasoline	6.3 million gallons/day
Jet fuel	1.7 million gallons/day
Diesel	1.9 million gallons/day
Fuel gases	675 thousand gallons/day
Propylene	65,000 lbs/day
Calcined coke	1,000 tons/day

The Carson refinery is one of the largest refineries in California and began operations in 1923. It processes ANS (Alaskan North Slope), Middle Eastern and West African crudes and supplies 25% of the Los Angeles gasoline demand. A 420MW cogeneration facility located on-site, of which BP has 51% ownership, provides electricity to the Southern California Edison electrical grid. The refinery supplies approximately 20% of the Southern California gasoline market and 50% of the jet fuel to the LAX Airport.

The refinery is 100% CARB (California Air Resources Board) gasoline and CARB diesel capable and has a substantial conversion capacity, including the largest FCC (Fluid catalytic cracker) in California.

In February 2011 BP announced plans to refocus its refining and marketing business on its northern US refineries and find buyers for Carson and the Texas City Refinery in Texas.

Today?s announcement is a significant step in the strategic refocusing of our US fuels business. Together with the intended sale of Texas City, this will allow us to focus BP?s operations and investments exclusively on our three northern US refineries, which are crude feedstock advantaged, and their large and important marketing businesses.

?Iain Conn, chief executive of BP?s global refining and marketing business

BP will sell the ARCO retail brand rights and exclusively license those rights from Tesoro for Northern California, Oregon and Washington and continue to produce transportation fuels at its Cherry Point, Washington refinery. BP will also retain ownership of the ampm convenience store brand and franchise it to Tesoro for use in the Southwest.

BP is nearing completion of a multi-billion dollar upgrade at its Whiting Refinery in Northwest Indiana which will transform Whiting?s crude processing capabilities and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2013. (Earlier post.) The company is also upgrading the Cherry Point Refinery to produce cleaner burning diesel fuel and investing in a cleaner gasoline project at its joint-venture refinery near Toledo, Ohio.

The announcement brings the total value of the divestments to which BP has agreed since the beginning of 2010 to $26.5 billion. This is part of the previously announced program to divest $38 billion of assets by the end of 2013.

Source: http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/08/carson-20120813.html

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