First-quarter net income fell to $261 million, or 48 cents a share, from $1.14 billion, or $1.86 a share, a year earlier.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp <VLO.N>, the largest U.S. oil refiner, posted sharply lower quarterly earnings on Tuesday due to weak profits from gasoline production and unplanned outages at its refineries.
First-quarter net income fell to $261 million, or 48 cents a share, from $1.14 billion, or $1.86 a share, a year earlier.
Profit in the latest period included a pre-tax benefit of $101 million, or 12 cents per share, from a business interruption recovery related to a fire at the company's McKee refinery.
Valero said benchmark margins on the U.S. Gulf Coast shrank by 59 percent from a year earlier as a jump in crude oil prices of $40 a barrel outpaced the rise in its selling price of gasoline.
!ADVERTISEMENT!The sharp drop in gasoline profit was slightly offset by better profit margins for diesel and jet fuel, the company said.
Average throughput rates for its Gulf Coast plants should increase by about 100,000 barrels per day in the second quarter as repairs at its Port Arthur and Aruba refineries are likely to be completed in May.
Valero said it was working closely with a prospective buyer for its Aruba refinery and would likely announce a deal during the second quarter.
The company is evaluating bids it has received for its Memphis and Krotz Springs refineries and is now considering putting its Ardmore refinery on the market.
Shares of Valero are down 24 percent this year, compared with a decline of 29 percent in the S&P 1500 oil and gas refining and marketing sub-industry index <.15GSPENRM>.
(Reporting by Michael Erman and Matt Daily; editing by John Wallace)
