Total refinery throughput for the first quarter of 2008 was 231,233 barrels per day, which included 209,902 barrels per day of crude oil. Total refinery throughput for the first quarter of 2007 was 133,939 barrels per day, including 118,889 barrels per day of crude oil.
Refinery gross margin per throughput barrel was $5.60 for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, compared to $12.43 for the same period in 2007. The financial information for the first quarter of 2008 includes the results of the three refineries and the wholesale and retail operations acquired from Giant on May 31, 2007.
Total capital expenditures in the first quarter of 2008 totaled $70.6 million, and included spending on low sulfur gasoline projects at the El Paso and Yorktown refineries. The company had $40.3 million of cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2008, and increased the borrowing capacity of its revolving credit facility in February 2008, increasing it from $500 million to $800 million.
Paul Foster, president and CEO of Western Refining, said: Despite the challenging refining environment, we are continuing to make significant progress on our operational improvement initiatives, which led to improved operating performance at our refineries in the first quarter.
