By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Apr. 24 -- Tosco Corp., Old Greenwich, Conn., Tuesday announced the coker processing unit at its 131,000-b/d Los Angeles Area Refinery (LAR) was shut as a result of a fire that also has reduced throughputs from some other processing units.
The Monday evening accident prompted a spike in gasoline futures prices.
No injuries resulted from the fire. The cause was under investigation, along with an evaluation to determine the extent of damage and repair schedule.
Tosco�s LAR refinery consists of two complexes, Carson and the nearby Wilmington plant, although both act as one refinery. Carson processes crude while Wilmington upgrades feedstock to finished gasoline and other products.
Carson�s coker processing unit was down Tuesday, and throughputs from other processing units at the Carson were affected, Tosco said. No specifics were given about the other processing units.
The Wilmington site was operating normally and has sufficient feedstock to continue producing gasoline and distillates at normal output levels.
On Apr. 11, shareholders of Phillips Petroleum Co., Bartlesville, Okla., and Tosco voted separately to approve Phillips� pending $7.5 billion stock acquisition of Tosco. Subject to regulators� approval, the deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter (OGJ Online, Feb. 5, 2001).
In terms of capacity, the combined Phillips-Tosco would become the second largest refiner in the US, just behind ExxonMobil Corp., and the third largest US retail marketer, with 12,200 outlets in 46 states.
Tosco has nine refineries with 1.3 million b/d of capacity, making it the third largest US refiner in terms of capacity, behind ExxonMobil and BP PLC. Tosco has more than $28 billion in annualized revenues.
