Sunoco CEO Elsenhans to step down

Sunoco Inc. chief executive Lynn L. Elsenhans will step down March 1, marking the end of the Philadelphia oil company's tumultuous four-year makeover from a manufacturer into a pared-down retailer and transporter of fuel.

Elsenhans, 55, will be replaced by chief financial officer Brian P. MacDonald as part of a sweeping package of initiatives announced after markets closed on Thursday. The changes were kicked off in September when the company announced plans to exit the unprofitable refining business this year and to conduct a strategic review of its operations.

Sunoco said it will continue efforts to sell its 330,000 barrel-per-day refinery in South Philadelphia. But after reaching out to more than 150 potential buyers, it said it received no offers for its Marcus Hook plant, and has given up hope that it will continue to operate it as a refinery.

"At this time, Sunoco does not believe that Marcus Hook will be repurchased and started as an operating refinery," the company said. The process of shutting down the plant, begun in December, will be completed in the next few weeks.

Sunoco's refineries lost $900 million in the past three years, and the company concluded there was little promise of making them profitable in an era of declining demand for motor fuels and too much refining capacity.

"This is why we need to exit the refining business, as difficult as this is for our employees and communities," Elsenhans said in a conference call Thursday.

Elsenhans, who came to Sunoco in 2008 with a background in refining and manufacturing, inherited a company whose weaknesses became urgently clear as the nation's economy sank a few months after her arrival. She had essentially completed her mission by reducing Sunoco's assets by two-thirds, selling off its units that manufacture chemicals, metallurgical coke and, finally, its refining operations.

"After extensive deliberations with the board, I recommended to them that I was no longer the right person to lead Sunoco as it progresses to the next phase of its future," she said in the call.

Her efforts to reign in costs and to exit the iconic business that has defined Sunoco since it opened the Marcus Hook refinery in 1902 won plaudits from investors, but angered many employees and community leaders.