Gulf Coast Gasoline Gains as Alon Conducts Refinery Maintenance

Gulf Coast gasoline strengthened as Alon USA Energy Inc. (ALJ) planned to take an off-gas compressor offline at its Big Spring refinery in Texas for repairs today.

The activity will minimally affect normal operations, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Valero Energy Corp. reported flaring at its 70,000-barrel-a-day Corpus Christi West as it conducts planned maintenance.

The discount for reformulated, 87-octane gasoline in the Gulf Coast narrowed 1.75 cents to 5.25 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:32 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Prompt delivery rose 6.33 cents to $2.8767 a gallon.

The grade fell yesterday to the lowest level since March 8.

Buckeye Partners LP (BPL) shut its West Shore pipeline on July 17 after a leak of gasoline near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the company said in a statement.

The area where the leak occurred has been secured and the company is investigating the incident, according to the statement issued late yesterday. The 70,000-barrel-a-day line transports refined products including gasoline, jet fuel and diesel from Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin.

There’s been no update to the information at this time, Martin E. White, a Breinigsville, Pennsylvania-based spokesman, said in an e-mail today.

The discount for conventional, 87-octane gasoline in Chicago held at 22.5 cents a gallon.

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.