Chevron's Calif. Refinery to Remain Closed Until 2013

Well ... that's going to suck

Chevron Corp said on Tuesday the central crude oil refining unit at its 245,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Richmond, California, refinery would remain shut for the rest of the year.

The announcement of a shutdown lasting about five months confirms worst-case scenario forecasts for the outage, which sources familiar with operations at the refinery and industry analysts had said would extend between three and six months from the Aug. 6 fire which shut the CDU.

The San Francisco Bay-area refinery's production of motor fuel has been cut by at least half since the blaze, making California gasoline wholesale and retail markets volatile.