By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 24 -- Valero Energy Corp. closed the sale of the 168,000 b/d Golden Eagle refinery and 70 associated retail sites in Northern California to Tesoro Petroleum Corp. Both companies are based in San Antonio. Valero sold the refinery and other assets for $1.075 billion, a sum recently revised by the company (OGJ, May 13, 2002, p. 28).
The deal recently met approvals from Tesoro's lenders, the US Federal Trade Commission, and the California and Oregon attorneys general.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce debt, said Bill Greehey, Valero chairman and CEO, adding that, on a pro forma basis, the company's debt-to-capitalization ration was below 51% at the close of the first quarter.
Sale of the refinery and other assets was mandated by the consent order executed last year between the company and the FTC and by comparable orders executed with California and Oregon as a condition of Valero's completed merger with Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp., San Antonio (OGJ Online, Jan. 2, 2002).