Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Big West Oil LLC said its North Salt Lake City, Utah, refinery is purchasing crude on a day-to-day basis after its parent, Flying J Inc., filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

“We are still working things out to continue to receive our crude supply,” Joel Elstein, manager of the Utah plant, said in a telephone interview. “It’s been kind of a day-to-day thing.”

The refinery, which is operating normally, had been purchasing oil on a monthly basis prior to the bankruptcy, Elstein said. Ogden, Utah-based Flying J, an oil refiner, transporter and travel-center owner, filed for bankruptcy Dec. 22, blaming a cash crisis brought on by declines in oil prices.

The 30,000 barrel-a-day Utah refinery receives its oil from suppliers in Utah and Wyoming, Elstein said.

“We seem to be buying crude at a similar price as before,” he said. Elstein said he didn’t anticipate operations being curtailed by Flying J’s financial situation.

“I don’t expect that, of course I didn’t expect any of this,” he said.

The Bakersfield Californian reported yesterday that a refinery in Bakersfield, operated by Big West of California, a subsidiary of Flying J, refused oil shipments, citing a supplier.

The plant will not be processing oil while 10 days of maintenance is performed to change the catalyst on a hydrocracker, Peter Hill, a spokesman for Flying J, said in a telephone interview.

“From what I understand, the facility is not going to be processing any crude during that time,” Hill said. “It’s a scheduled, routine shutdown that is part of the usual procedures of the refinery.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Tuttle in New York at rtuttle@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 30, 2008 17:43 EST