Shell Plans To Sell Anacortes Refinery

Shell Oil Co. says it has signed an agreement to sell its refinery in Anacortes to Tesoro Petroleum Corp. for $237 million.

Tesoro said it plans to keep 300 workers at the refinery and to honor the existing contract with the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union. Tesoro is based in San Antonio, Texas.

Shell was forced to sell the refinery because of antitrust concerns raised by its deal with Texaco Co. to combine refining and marketing operations. Texaco has a refinery near Anacortes, too, and together the two would have 43 percent of the refining capacity in Washington.

The Shell refinery can handle up to 108,000 barrels a day of Alaskan North Slope and Canadian oil.