Tesoro Hawaii Refinery Shut Down
BP To Sell Company-Owned Stores
Two Armed Men Rob Tempe Circle K
Police Arrest Man Suspected of Multiple Robberies

TESORO HAWAII REFINERY SHUT DOWN

KAPOLEI, HI. — The 95,000-barrel-per-day Tesoro refinery here was shut down on Nov. 4 because of a power outage during a severe storm that traveled through the Hawaiian islands.

According to Tesoro officials, the majority of the refinery's units were brought back online safely; however the Catalytic Reformer Unit incurred some damage and has been shut down for repairs. The unit may not be fully operational until the end of the year.

"At the supply level, because of supply-and-demand dynamics, we do expect prices to rise because of the tight supplies and the price levels that are required to attract supplies from these alternate markets," said Tesoro Spokesman Nathan Hokama. "When people know you have a refinery issue, naturally they're going to know you're going to need supply, so naturally their prices are going to rise.

"Right now it's difficult to speculate what that will ultimately mean for consumers in terms of product prices. At the consumer level it really depends on market dynamics."

At the time of the shut-down, Tesoro officials said they had approximately two weeks of gasoline supply for the Hawaiian market in inventory. If the shut-down is prolonged, the oil company says it will work with other gasoline suppliers on and off the Hawaiian islands to meet local demand.

BP TO SELL COMPANY-OWNED C-STORES

NAPERVILLE, IL. — BP has announced that it plans to sell all of its company-owned and company-operated convenience stores. The sale, which will take place over the next two years, will affect approximately 700 sites across the United States.

BP predicts that "the majority of sites will be sold to franchisees and some will also be sold to dealers and large distributors." As part of the terms of the sale agreement, the buyers will be required to enter into a 20-year franchise agreement and be supplied with BP or Arco-branded fuels for the 20-year term. All of the sites will maintain the am/pm brand for their convenience stores.

"We are not leaving these communities," said Fiona MacLeod, president of BP U.S. Convenience Retail. "As much as possible, we want am/pm stores to be owned and operated by people who live in the communities we serve."

BP will maintain its offices in La Palma, CA., as the division's head office and close the company's U.S. Convenience Retail office in Naperville, IL. The company said that the majority of the marketing representatives for the major oil will be based from home offices across the country.

The company predicts that the sale will eliminate 9,500 convenience store positions and 350 business support staff. In addition, approximately 100 employees from BP's Pipelines and Logistics Unit will be affected by the sale.

"We know that these changes will be very difficult for our employees, and we are putting measures in place to assist affected business support staff, including job placement assistance," said MacLeod. "It's been our experience that the majority of convenience store employees are retained by the new owners."

TWO ARMED MEN ROB TEMPE CIRCLE K

TEMPE, AZ. — Two armed men robbed the Circle K at Rural and Warner Roads here.

According to local police reports, the men entered the convenience store at 4:15 a.m. and demanded money and cigarettes at gunpoint. They escaped the store in an unknown vehicle with an unknown amount of cash, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

The clerk at the store was not injured.

Both men were described as were 6-feet-tall with medium builds, wearing gray bandanas over their faces.

Tempe police say the thieves may be linked to similar robberies in Gilbert, AZ.

POLICE ARREST MAN SUSPECTED OF MULTIPLE ROBBERIES

SEBASTOPOL, CA. — A thief suspected of a string of service station robberies has been arrested by police after robbing a service station here.

According to local police reports, Jeff Romero, 27, has been arrested on suspicion of robbing 26 service stations across Northern California during the past year. All of the thefts occurred at gunpoint and all involved service stations.

The string of robberies began in September 2006 at the Chevron station on Hesperian Blvd., in San Leandro, CA. Over the next 14 months, service stations in Hayward, Castro Valley, Union City, San Mateo, Fremont, Dublin, Berkeley, Millbrae, Foster City, Newark, Greenbrae, San Ramon, and Alamo were robbed by the same thief.

Originally published in the December 2007 issue of O&A Marketing News.
Copyright 2007 by KAL Publications Inc.