LOS ANGELES -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris earlier this month announced an agreement with Tesoro Corp. that she said is intended to preserve California jobs, help protect consumers from gasoline price spikes and require environmental retrofitting of the state's largest oil refinery.
"These commitments will protect jobs for potentially thousands of Californians, ensure that California's oil and gas markets remain competitive for years to come, and lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases and emissions," Harris said.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cleared San Antonio-based Tesoro's acquisition of BP's fully integrated Southern California refining and marketing business--including the Carson refinery and retail network--in mid-May. The deal was also subject to detailed investigation by the California AG's Office.
In a letter (see File Attachments, below) to the chairman of the California Energy Commission, Harris provided details of the agreement reached between the state and Tesoro, which include:
- A guarantee to preserve more than 1,000 jobs at the Wilmington refinery for the next two years.
- Joint monitoring by the AG's office and the California Energy Commission of gasoline pricing, volume and refinery capacity.
- Requirements that Tesoro implement safeguards against price spiking from refinery outages through increased capacity for production from other regional refineries.
- A commitment that Arco stations acquired by Tesoro will remain a low-cost fuel provider for California consumers.
- An environmental retrofit of both the Wilmington and Carson refineries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Tesoro is an independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products. Tesoro, through its subsidiaries, operates seven refineries in the western United States with a combined capacity of approximately 675,000 barrels per day. Tesoro's retail-marketing system includes nearly 1,390 branded stations, of which more than 595 are company operated under the Tesoro, Shell and USA Gasoline brands.
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