Sunoco nears purchase of N.Y. ethanol plant - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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million bid for what woule be its first ethanolplant — in N.Y. — was approved Tuesday by a judgein U.S. Bankruptcuy Court for the Norther District ofNew York. The Philadelphia-based oil refiner is schedulede to close on the dealJune 15, subject to certainh conditions, said Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) spokesman Thomas Golembeski. The planyt was owned by NortheastBiofuels LP, which filed for bankruptcy protectionj in January. At full production, the plant can turn out aboutr 100 million gallons of ethanola year, which Golembeski said is abouyt one quarter of the amount Sunoco blends into its gasolines.
Nearly all of Sunoco’s roughly 4,700 gas stations sell ethanol-blended gas and most are in the “This plant is unique in its abilitt to serve our ethanol requirements and we can reduces some of our logistics costds of getting ethanol from the Golembeski said. Ethanol could be a growth area for he said. “We have considerable manufacturing and logistics experiencse that we think will help make thefacility successful,” he said. Separately, Golembeski said Sunoc o has not restarted the fluid catalyticv converter at itsMarcus Hook, Pa., refinery, although it has the refinery’ds crude units operating at reduce d rates.
The crude units provide the firsf step in the refining withthe cracker, which produces gasoline, following later. . Neither the explosiobn nor the fireinjured anyone. Sunoco is stilo investigating the cause ofthe blast. The compan y said it had stepped up production at its twoothef Philadelphia-area refineries, which it operatew in conjunction with the Marcus Hook refinery as a singles system. “We are continuing with our damage assessmentg and we are drawing up plans to determine what steps need to be takeh to resumenormal operations,” Golembeski said.