Tesoro Shares Rise After Tsunami Shuts Japanese Refineries
Mar 11, 2011 3:11 PM CT

Tesoro Corp., the refiner with three plants on the U.S. West Coast, rose the most of any company in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, after a tsunami induced by Japan’s worst earthquake in at least a century soaked the country and forced the closure of refineries and power plants there.

The company, based in San Antonio, rose $1.91, or 8.4 percent, to $24.51 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Tesoro may see more demand if its refineries have to help fill the void left by others knocked out in Japan, Ann Kohler, an analyst at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut, said in a phone interview.

“If there is longer term damage to those refineries, that need would have to be met by other refiners in the Pacific Basin,” said Kohler, who rates the shares a “buy.”

A Cosmo Oil Co. refinery east of Tokyo was engulfed in flames and closed, as were three other refineries, 11 nuclear reactors after a devastating tsunami followed an offshore earthquake.

Tesoro said in a news release Friday that the tsunami cascading through the Pacific Ocean had left its Hawaii and Alaska refineries unaffected.

Other U.S. refiners posted gains of 5 percent or more today, including Valero Energy Corp., Holly Corp., Frontier Oil Corp., Western Refining Inc., Delek US Holdings Inc., CVR Energy Inc, and Alon USA Energy Inc.

Valero today announced plans to buy Chevron Corp.’s Pembroke refinery in the U.K.

Source: Bloomberg

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