Company to Reopen Troubled Refinery in N. California

Tosco Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. oil refiner, said it will resume operation of a San Francisco-area refinery closed last month when safety questions were raised after a fatal fire.

“We’re confident we can safely restart the Avon refinery and we plan to start the process immediately,” said Dwight Wiggins, president of Tosco Refining Co.

It will take about eight weeks to fully implement safety recommendations, restart various units at the 160,000-barrel-a-day refinery and build operations to capacity, Wiggins said.

The refinery, in Martinez northeast of San Francisco, was shut for internal and independent safety audits after a series of accidents since January 1997 that killed six people and injured more than 40. The most recent accident occurred Feb. 23.