The company expects to begin idling the Marcus Hook facility immediately while it continues to seek a buyer and also pursue options with third parties for alternate uses of the facility.
Furthermore, the company also intends to increase the capacity utilization rate of its Philadelphia refinery and will continue to operate the refinery as long as market conditions justify.
Sunoco intends to permanently idle the main processing units at the Philadelphia refinery before July 2012, if a suitable sales transaction cannot be implemented.
Sunoco chairman and CEO Lynn L. Elsenhans, said the market conditions have deteriorated significantly and the outlook for both motor fuel demand and refining margins remains weak.
"Our retail and logistics businesses are performing well, but given the negative realities of the Northeast refining marketplace, we need to accelerate the time line for idling our Marcus Hook processing units" added Elsenhans.
Sunoco is a leading transportation fuel provider with a network of branded retail locations in 24 states.
The company is also the general partner of and has a 34% interest in Sunoco Logistics Partners, an owner and operator of pipelines and product terminals.
