TEXT-S&P rates Tesoro Corp snr unsecured note issues

Sept 13 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it assigned its
'BB+' issue-level rating to Tesoro Corp.'s (BB+/Stable/--) two senior unsecured
notes series, one due 2017 and another due 2022. At the same time, we assigned a
'3' recovery rating to both note issues, indicating expectations of meaningful
(50% to 70%) recovery if a payment default occurs. We expect the company to use
a portion of the proceeds to pay down the $450 million of existing senior notes
due 2015 and the $473 million senior notes due 2017. Pro forma for the issuance
and the redemptions, we expect, Tesoro will have about $1.6 billion in
balance-sheet debt at the end of third quarter 2012. The outlook on Tesoro is
stable based on our view that, at current debt levels, the ratings could sustain
periods of subpar financial performance owing to cyclical factors.

RATINGS LIST

Tesoro Corp.
Corporate credit rating BB+/Stable

New Ratings
Senior unsecured notes BB+
Recovery rating 3