California Gasoline Little Changed as BP Delays Refinery Restart

Gasoline on the spot market in California was little changed as BP Plc (BP/) delayed the restart of fuel-making units at its Carson refinery in Southern California.

BP will start a fluid catalytic cracker and alkylation unit at the 266,000-barrel-a-day refinery between March 4 and March 12, a person familiar with operations at the plant said today. The company has delayed three times from the originally planned window of Feb. 9 to Feb. 16.

California-blend gasoline in Los Angeles widened its discount to futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 0.25 cent to 4 cents a gallon at 4:05 p.m. New York time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fuel weakened to 6 cents a gallon below futures at 2:02 p.m. before paring losses.

The fuel in San Francisco weakened 0.25 cent to 11.5 cents a gallon below futures.

Conventional, 84-octane gasoline in Portland, Oregon, weakened 0.5 cent to 3.5 cents a gallon below New York futures.

California-blend diesel in Los Angeles strengthened by 1.25 cents to a premium of 14.5 cents a gallon above heating oil futures on the Nymex. The fuel in San Francisco widened its premium by 1.25 cents to 12 cents a gallon above futures.

Low-sulfur diesel in Portland weakened by 2 cents to 11.5 cents a gallon above futures.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Murtaugh in Houston at dmurtaugh@bloomberg.net

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