PBF to Buy Exxon Refinery for $537.5 Million -- Update
September 30 2015 - 6:27PM
Dow Jones News
By Lynn Cook
PBF Energy Inc. said it will buy a large refinery in southern
California from Exxon Mobil Corp. for $537.5 million, plus working
capital valued at closing.
The deal is significant because the 155,000-barrel-a-day
refinery in Torrance, a suburb south of Los Angeles, has been shut
down since early 2015 when a fire destroyed a unit critical to
making gasoline. Once the refinery stopped making fuel, prices at
the pump in the state soared.
It's difficult to import enough fuel to satisfy California's
gasoline needs, because the state's environmental regulations are
more stringent than the rest of the U.S., and the world.
PBF said the refinery will be fixed and reopened before the deal
is closed in the second quarter of 2016, subject to customary
closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the
state's workplace safety regulator, has proposed a $566,000 fine
against Exxon for failing to prevent the Feb. 18 explosion at the
plant that injured four workers. The refinery's fluid catalytic
cracker--a key gasoline-making unit that helps reduce air
pollution--has been shut down since that fire.
Fuel prices on the U.S. west coast have been higher than the
rest of the country this year, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge
Report. Closed and partially shut down fuel-making plants in the
state have helped push up fuel prices in the region, though in
recent weeks they have started to drift lower.
California's average gasoline price was $2.97 a gallon on
Wednesday, down five cents from last week, AAA data show. Only
Alaska drivers pay more, with an average $2.98 a gallon. The
national average gasoline price is 23% lower than California's at
$2.2785 a gallon.
Write to Lynn Cook at lynn.cook@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 30, 2015 18:12 ET (22:12 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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