LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) - California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced an agreement on Friday with Tesoro to preserve jobs for Californians, prevent gas price spikes and make environmental improvements.
In August, Tesoro acquired BP's Carson refinery. Harris' office and the Federal Trade Commission subsequently looked into the acquisition. Harris' office provided the details of the agreement with Tesoro in a letter to the chair of the California Energy Commission.
"These commitments will protect jobs for potentially thousands of Californians, ensure that California's oil and gas markets remain competitive for years to come, and lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases and emissions," Harris said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tesoro will guarantee to preserve more than 1,000 jobs at the Wilmington refinery for the next two years, allow for joint monitoring by Harris' office and the California Energy Commission of gas pricing, refinery capacity and volume, preserve Arco stations acquired by Tesoro as a low-cost fuel provider, environmentally retrofit its Carson and Wilmington refineries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implement safeguards against price spiking from refinery outages through increased production capacity from other refineries in the region.
"Over the next several years we will be vigilant in monitoring Tesoro's compliance with its commitments, and we hope to continue working closely with the CEC in this respect," Harris' office said. "Through our combined expertise and enforcement authority we can ensure that Tesoro follows through with its commitments and the synergies resulting from this acquisition will benefit all Californians."
Calif. AG announces agreement with Tesoro to monitor gas prices, protect jobs
