Los Angeles Gasoline Narrows as Chevron Refinery Performs Work

Spot gasoline in Los Angeles gained against futures for a second day as Chevron Corp. (CVX)’s El Segundo refinery in Southern California was said to be keeping equipment shut for planned repairs until the end of the week.

Chevron’s 279,000-barrel-a-day El Segundo refinery, the largest in California, extended work on the fluid catalytic cracker until the end of the month, a person with knowledge of the plan said last week. The maintenance turnaround, which began in mid-January, was previously expected to last 54 days.

California-blend gasoline, or Carbob, in Los Angeles climbed 0.25 cent to 12.75 cents a gallon under gasoline futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 4:24 p.m. East Coast time, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Prompt delivery of the fuel dropped 4.86 cents to $3.0249 a gallon.

Carbob in San Francisco fell 1.5 cents against futures to a discount of 18.5 cents a gallon.

The spread between the fuel in San Francisco and Los Angeles widened a second day, increasing by 1.75 cents to 5.75 cents a gallon. The gap reached a record 32.5 cents a gallon on Jan. 14.

California-blend, or CARB, diesel in Los Angeles and San Francisco was unchanged at premiums of 10.5 cents and 12 cents a gallon against Nymex heating oil futures, respectively.

In Portland, Oregon, low-sulfur diesel held at a premium of 16 cents a gallon versus futures, the highest level since November. Conventional, 84-octane gasoline in Portland was also unchanged at a discount of 7.5 cents a gallon against Nymex gasoline futures, a six-week low.

The 3-2-1 crack spread of Alaska North Slope crude, Carbob in Los Angeles and CARB diesel in Los Angeles dropped $1.55 to $18.78 a barrel at 4:26 p.m. New York time. The spread, a measure of refining profitability, hit a year-low of $3.86 a barrel in December.

-- Editors: David Marino, Charlotte Porter

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