Sunoco Officially Exits Refinery Business

PHILADELPHIA -- Sunoco Inc. completed its exit from all refining operations on Sept. 8, according to a Form 8-K the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last night.

All refining assets at Sunoco's Philadelphia refinery have been officially transferred to Philadelphia Energy Solutions, a joint venture with The Carlyle Group LP, the filing stated. The Carlyle Group will hold the controlling interest for the refinery, while Sunoco retains a 33-percent non-operating minority interest.

In the 8-K filing, Sunoco also announced it had permanently idled the main refining processing units at its Marcus Hook, Pa., refinery in June.

2012 has been a year of big changes for Sunoco. On March 1, CEO Lynn Elsenhans stepped down, and was replaced by Brian MacDonald. Then, on April 30, Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) announced it would purchase Sunoco for $5.3 billion. A shareholder vote on the acquisition is scheduled for Oct. 4.

However, the fate of Sunoco's convenience stores remains unknown. Various media reports have stated ETP would sell Sunoco's 4,900 c-stores once the acquisition is completed because the stores do not jive with the master limited partnership's core assets.

X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds