UPDATE 1-Valero CEO sees 4 refineries sold by end '08
(Adds refinery capacities, details about sales, projects, byline)
By Erwin Seba
SAN ANTONIO, May 1 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) Chief Executive Bill Klesse said on Thursday he expects the company's refineries in Aruba, Memphis, Tennessee; Krotz Springs, Louisiana; and Ardmore, Oklahoma, to be sold by the end of 2008.
A decision on a possible sale of the company's 195,000 barrel per day (bpd) Paulsboro, New Jersey, refinery will be made before the fourth quarter of this year, Klesse told reporters following Valero's annual meeting in San Antonio.
A sale of the Paulsboro refinery would likely be completed in 2009, he said.
Klesse said Valero continues to expect the 275,000 bpd Aruba refinery to be sold in the second quarter.
Sources have told Reuters that Brazil's state oil company Petrobras has an agreement to buy the Aruba refinery for about $2.8 billion.
Valero is talking with bidders for the 195,000 bpd Memphis and 85,000 bpd Krotz Springs refineries, Klesse said.
Sources have told Reuters Leucadia National Corp (LUK.N) and Tesoro Corp (TSO.N) are among the bidders for the two refineries in a package deal. Valero has declined to identify possible bidders on the refineries.
Klesse said there were fewer bidders for those two plants compared to those who sought to buy the Lima, Ohio, refinery sold last year to Husky Energy.
Valero's 16 refineries should be back at planned production sometime in May, Klesse said, once repairs have been completed at the Aruba and 250,000 bpd St. Charles, Louisiana, refineries, he said.
However, previously announced plans for work at the 210,000 bpd Delaware City, Delaware, refinery and 215,000 bpd Quebec refinery will affect systemwide throughput.
Throughput is the production capacity of a refinery measured in barrels per day of feedstock.
Valero, the largest U.S. oil refiner, is building a $100 million wind farm to generate electricity at its 170,000 bpd McKee refinery in Sunray, Texas, Klesse said.
Located on the high plains north of Amarillo, Texas, property owners around the McKee refinery area put up plastic fencing to stop tumbleweeds from blowing across their land in regular 30 mile per hour winds.
The wind farm is expected to generate the 10 megawatts by the end of 2008 and 50 megawatts, the refinery's entire power demand, in 2009. (Reporting by Erwin Seba, editing by Richard Chang)
