Conocophillips

Gasoline prices may rise above $4 next summer if three Philadelphia area refineries close, reducing capacity, said Edward Morse, New York-based head of commodities research at Citigroup. Sunoco Inc. and ConocoPhillips have idled two plants in Marcus Hook and Trainer, and Sunoco plans to shut the Philadelphia refinery by July if a buyer isn't found. Together, the plants account for about half of U.S. East Coast refining. "One of the things that's lurking in the marketplace is the consequence of this shutting in of about 700,000 barrels a day of East Coast refineries," Morse said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

Philadelphia-area refinery shutdowns may increase the price volatility of gasoline and other petroleum products, according to a new report from the Energy Department. Sunoco Inc. and ConocoPhillips have idled two local plants and plan to shut a third that together can process more than 700,000 barrels a day of oil, or about 46 percent of the Central Atlantic and New England region's refining capacity. Gasoline prices may rise above $4 a gallon next summer because of the closures, Edward Morse, New York-based head of commodities research at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. said Thursday.

Politicians, union leaders, oil executives, and economic-development officials vowed Wednesday to do all they can to find buyers for three area refineries slated to close next year. Organized by Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.), the group met in the morning at the community center in Marcus Hook - the small Delaware County town bookended by refineries - just one day after ConocoPhillips announced that it would sell or close its nearby Trainer complex in six months. ConocoPhillips' decision came three weeks after Sunoco Inc. said it would exit the refining business, with plans to sell or close its South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook refineries in July.

Delta Air Lines, hoping to secure a steady source of discounted jet fuel, announced Monday that it will buy the ConocoPhillips oil refinery in Trainer for the bargain price of $150 million. The nation's second-largest commercial airline says it hopes to reduce its fuel expenses by $300 million a year with the acquisition. Delta spent $11.8 billion on jet fuel in 2011, about 36 percent of its operating expenses. "Acquiring the Trainer refinery is an innovative approach to managing our largest expense," said Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive officer.

A Delta Airlines bid to buy the idled ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer to satisfy its enormous thirst for jet fuel appears to be gaining momentum, according to industry observers. According to reports, the Delta board of directors has endorsed a plan to bid on the refinery, one of three Philadelphia fuel-processing facilities that face closure because of poor profits. Two others are owned by Sunoco Inc. of Philadelphia, which is exiting the refining business this year altogether.

With three area oil refineries potentially shutting down by next July, the fallout on commerce on the Delaware River will be staggering. Recent decisions by Sunoco Inc. to sell or close its South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook refineries and by ConocoPhillips to shut down, if it can't sell, its Trainer, Delaware County, refinery have given fresh fodder to opponents of deepening the Delaware River navigation channel. Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum fired off a letter Thursday to the Army Corps of Engineers in Philadelphia, demanding a redo of the cost-benefit calculation of the $300 million channel dredging.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., the unexciting but reliably profitable pipeline subsidiary of Sunoco Inc., is buying two fuel terminals for $156 million that will extend the reach of its supply network. Sunoco Logistics is buying the tank farm at Sunoco's Eagle Point property in Westville, Gloucester County, from the parent company for $100 million. It is also buying a refined-products terminal in East Boston, Mass., from ConocoPhillips for $56 million. The Eagle Point tank farm, next to a refinery that Sunoco shut in 2009, has five million barrels of storage capacity.

Sunoco Inc. announced a $61 million project yesterday to make a key processing unit at its South Philadelphia refinery safer, a move long sought by community activists and environmentalists. Once it gets the required environmental permits, the Philadelphia refiner plans to install a system that reduces the volatility of an extremely hazardous acid used to produce cleaner-burning, high-octane ingredients for gasoline. Joanne Rossi, president of the Community/Labor Refinery Tracking Committee, which has been pushing since 1991 for a switch to a safer process at the refinery, was thrilled by Sunoco's plans.

Nine regional members of Congress from Pennsylvania and Delaware have asked the U.S. Energy Information Administration for an analysis of the regional impact of the possible closing of three area refineries. In September, Sunoco and ConocoPhillips announced that refineries in Philadelphia, Marcus Hook, and Trainer would be put up for sale. If no buyers were found, the facilities would most likely close. In a letter to the energy agency, the members asked about the effects that the closures of the three refineries would have, not only on jobs, but also on the "supply, distribution, dependence on imports, prices, and market volatility for refined products.