Gulf Gasoline Falls as Phillips Ends Repairs, Valero Starts Unit

Gasoline and diesel on the Gulf Coast declined as Phillips 66 (PSX) completed maintenance at its Borger refinery and Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) started a new hydocracker unit at its Port Arthur plant.

Conventional gasoline, or CBOB, on the Gulf Coast dropped 0.75 cent to a discount of 25.5 cents a gallon to futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:54 p.m. The fuel has traded below futures since Oct. 11.

Ultra-low-sulfur diesel in the Gulf slid 1.5 cents to a discount of 1.25 cents a gallon under Nymex heating oil futures.

Phillips began work at its 146,000-barrel-a-day Borger refinery in Texas in late September after being delayed about 30 days. The maintenance included shutting two fluid catalytic crackers and idling the entire plant in October, a person familiar with operations said Dec. 5.

Valero said in its third-quarter earnings report it expected the hydrocracker at its 310,000-barrel-a-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery to be operational this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Falk in New York at jfalk19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net