Los Angeles Gasoline Strengthens After BP Refinery Loses Power

Spot gasoline in Los Angeles gained against futures to the highest level in more than three months after BP Plc (BP/) reported a power failure at the Carson refinery, the second-largest in California.

BP’s 266,000-barrel-a-day Carson plant had the power failure over the weekend after a compressor tripped off-line, a person familiar with operations there said today. Two units shut and have since been restarted, the person said.

California-blend gasoline, or Carbob, in Los Angeles strengthened 3.5 cents to 29.5 cents a gallon above gasoline futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 4:22 p.m. East Coast time, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the highest level for the fuel since Oct. 12. Prompt-delivery in Los Angeles rose 8.61 cents to $3.2359 a gallon.

Valero Energy Corp. (VLO)’s 78,000-barrel-a-day Wilmington refinery near Los Angeles plans to shut the fluid catalytic cracker and the alkylation unit for repairs on a depropanizer beginning Feb. 4, a person familiar with the plans said Jan. 25. The equipment is scheduled to restart Feb. 16, the person said.

Carbob in San Francisco increased 12 cents to a premium of 7 cents a gallon against futures. Prompt-delivery of the fuel rose 17.11 cents to $3.0109 a gallon. The premium of Los Angeles Carbob to the fuel narrowed 8.5 cents to 22.5 cents a gallon.

California-blend, or CARB, diesel in Los Angeles rose 1 cent to an 8.5-cent premium to Nymex heating oil futures. The same fuel in San Francisco advanced 4.5 cents to a premium of 11 cents a gallon against futures.

In Portland, low-sulfur diesel narrowed its discount by 10 cents to 1 cent a gallon against heating oil futures. Conventional, 84-octane gasoline there gained 10.75 cents to a discount of 4.25 cents to gasoline futures.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

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