Tosco to Buy a BP Amoco Louisiana Refinery

Tosco Corp. agreed to buy the Alliance refinery in Louisiana from BP Amoco for $660 million. The refinery can process 250,000 barrels of oil a day into fuels. Tosco, an oil refiner that also operates Circle K convenience stores, expects that Alliance’s ability to make cleaner-burning gasoline will boost earnings by 35 cents a share next year. The purchase allows Tosco to replace the Avon refinery near San Francisco, which it agreed to sell last week. BP no longer wants to own refineries in markets where it can buy supplies for its gasoline stations at competitive prices. The London-based company expects proceeds from the refinery and pipeline sales to total $1.1 billion. BP said last July it would sell Alliance as part of a plan to shed about $10 billion in assets. The sale would make BP, now the biggest U.S. refiner, No. 2 after Exxon Mobil Corp. BP’s American depositary receipts fell $1.19 to close at $54.69, while Stamford, Conn.-based Tosco rose $1 to close at $29.25, both on the New York Stock Exchange.