BHP Hawaii completes
By Rob Perez
sale to Tesoro
Star-BulletinTesoro Petroleum Corp. today said it completed its purchase of BHP Hawaii Inc. and named a BHP vice president to head the Texas company's newly acquired operations.
Tesoro paid $243.5 million in cash to Broken Hill Proprietary Co. for the stock of BHP Petroleum Americas Refining Inc., the entity that held the Hawaii assets. It also issued a $50 million promissory note.
Faye Watanabe Kurren, 47, formerly BHP Hawaii's vice president of supply and international sales, was named president of the new company, Tesoro Hawaii Corp.
The acquisition includes BHP's 95,000-barrel-a-day refinery at Campbell Industrial Park on Oahu and its 32 Gas Express stations on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
The refinery is Hawaii's largest, producing more than 60 percent of the state's jet fuel, 40 percent of the gasoline consumed locally, more than 60 percent of the diesel fuel, 95 percent of the ship fuel and 50 percent of the fuel oil used to generate electricity.
BHP Hawaii had revenue of $1.1 billion in the fiscal year ended May 31, 1997.
Andrea Simpson, a Tesoro Hawaii spokeswoman, said it was too soon to say whether any major changes are planned under Tesoro or what impact the sale would have on the roughly 750 employees in the Hawaii operations.
Closing of the deal, first announced in March, comes as Hawaii's highest-in-the-nation gas prices have come under scrutiny.
But analysts have said they don't expect Tesoro's presence to lead to lower gas prices here, noting the company -- a major player in Alaska's gas market -- isn't known for aggressive price competition.
Kurren, the new Tesoro Hawaii president, previously was responsible for BHP's crude supply functions, utility and military contracts, sales of aviation and marine fuels and operations in American Samoa. She had been with BHP since 1984.
Kurren succeeds Henry Neal, BHP Hawaii president for the past 31/2 years. Neal, 58, retired effective today.
See also: State contract suggests huge gas profits
