Refinery

RICHMOND, Calif. - A major fire at one of the country's biggest oil refineries that sent scores of people to hospitals with complaints of breathing problems will push gas prices above $4 a gallon on the West Coast, analysts said Tuesday. The fire, which sent plumes of black smoke over the San Francisco Bay Area, erupted Monday evening in the huge Chevron refinery about 10 miles northeast of San Francisco. It was out early Tuesday, although officials were still conducting a controlled burn.

Sunoco Inc. chief executive Brian P. MacDonald on Wednesday handed over the ceremonial keys to the company's Philadelphia oil refinery, saving 850 jobs and giving new life to the sprawling 146-year-old plant. On a cloudless morning that enhanced a sunny mood, officials marked the transfer of the plant to a new joint venture operated by the Carlyle Group, the Washington private-equity firm. Business executives, labor leaders, and elected officials of both parties stood together and lauded the cross-cultural, bipartisan cooperation that led to the agreement in July to keep the plant operating after Sunoco announced last year that it wanted to exit refining.

An oil refinery employee, sought for allegedly running over his wife at a Wilmington shopping center, held police and fire officials from throughout Delaware County at bay for several hours from atop a refinery tower in Trainer last night. Around 9 p.m., the ConocoPhillips operations manager was taken into custody peacefully by Pennsylvania state police. Authorities said he was not armed when he came down. Delaware state police said the man, identified as Stephen DeJohn, 50, of Chadds Ford, ran over a 47-year-old woman in the Brandywine Town Center parking lot shortly after 2 p.m. in what they described as a domestic incident.

Workers are returning to the former ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, to begin steps toward resuming fuel production in September, a move that new owner Delta Air Lines hopes can cut its jet-fuel bill by $300 million a year. A Delta subsidiary, Monroe Energy L.L.C., closed on the $180 million purchase of the idled oil refinery on June 22. Three days later, the first workers arrived to begin a turnaround, which is a maintenance procedure, and to modify some units and do routine inspections.

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.

Sunoco Inc.'s Eagle Point refinery in Westville, Gloucester County, which was shut down in early 2010, may be reborn in India. Amerind Petroleum Private Ltd. and the Andhra Pradesh state government signed a memorandum of understanding to reassemble the refinery in Visakhapatnam, according to Indian media reports. Syed Badruddin, chairman of Amerind, told reporters the Export-Import Bank of the United States would lend $375 million of the project's initial $500 million cost. Thomas P. Golembeski, Sunoco's spokesman, said the company had nothing to announce, but he confirmed Sunoco has been trying to sell Eagle Point's equipment since the refinery closed.

ConocoPhillips said it would extend efforts to sell its Trainer oil refinery because of "recent interest" from potential buyers. "We are continuing efforts to seek a buyer," the Houston company said in an e-mail. Extending the sales deadline from March 31 to the end of May will "allow more time for discussions to take place. " ConocoPhillips shut the 190,000-barrel-per-day refinery in the Delaware County community last year and laid off about 400 employees there as of Jan. 31. In January, ConocoPhillips said it intended to "permanently shut down" the Trainer refinery if it had not identified a buyer by the end of March.

The United Steelworkers, which represents refinery workers, weighed in Monday in opposition to the Clean Air Council's legal challenge of a regulatory compromise that cleared the way for Philadelphia Energy Solutions to take over operations at Sunoco's Philadelphia refinery last month. Steelworkers International president Leo W. Gerard said in a statement the union disagreed with the Clean Air Council's appeal of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection compromise that allows the refinery to emit more pollution during its initial years of operation.

Sunoco Inc. said Thursday that it would sell its Ohio refinery and cut corporate staff by 175 employees - mostly in Philadelphia - to reflect the firm's shrinking operations. The fuel company will sell its Toledo refinery for $400 million to PBF Energy, the Connecticut firm that earlier this year acquired Valero Energy Corp.'s refineries in Delaware City, Del., and in Paulsboro, Gloucester County. The Toledo plant was Sunoco's first refinery, purchased in 1894 by Joseph Newton Pew and Edward O. Emerson, eight years after they began prospecting for oil in northern Ohio.