N.Y. Gasoline Falls to Week Low Following Sunoco Unit Restart

New York gasoline fell to the lowest level in a week following the restart of a vacuum tower at Sunoco Inc. (SUN)’s Philadelphia refinery.

The T-5 tower at the 137 crude unit in the Girard Point section of the plant was started on July 11, a filing with city regulators showed.

The premium for reformulated, 87-octane gasoline in New York Harbor dropped 1 cent to 13.75 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:49 a.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was the second consecutive decline at the hub and the lowest level since July 9. Prompt delivery fell 2.29 cents to $2.9793 a gallon.

Sunoco shut the vacuum tower June 20, according to an earlier filing with city regulators. The premium at the East Coast hub rose to 22 cents a gallon on June 22.

The refinery has a capacity of 355,000 barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has a total vacuum distillation capacity of 163,200 barrels a day, Energy Department data show.

Reformulated, 87-octane gasoline in the Gulf Coast held at a discount of 5 cents a gallon versus futures.

Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ) reported flaring from a crude unit at the Big Spring refinery in Texas yesterday after a compressor tripped offline, according to a filing with state regulators.

Flint Hills Resources LLC also reported a release of benzene from its Corpus Christi West refinery in Texas after an equipment failure, a filing with the National Response Center showed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in New York at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.