Sale of Parent Puts Ultramar Before Bidders

Ultramar Inc., a Long-Beach-based oil refining and marketing company that employs 2,200 in California, faces a sale now that U.K. oil exploration company Lasmo has taken over the local firm’s British parent company.

Lasmo has said it will sell the parent company’s North American refining operations, which include Ultramar Inc.’s oil refinery in Wilmington and 400 Ultramar- and Beacon-brand service stations throughout California.

“We are being visited by Lasmo people on Monday, and we expect to hear more about their plans then,” said Michael Hileman, a spokesman.

On Wednesday, Lasmo was successful in its $2-billion hostile takeover of British-based Ultramar, a worldwide oil and gas company.

The possible sale of the local operations comes at a time of upheaval for the California refining industry, with recent closures and sales of other plants.

Ultramar’s California operations are considered highly desirable and could attract a number of bidders, including British Petroleum, Tosco Corp. and possibly the oil producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Venezuela, said John Vautrain, a Long Beach-based consultant with the oil property evaluation firm of Purvin & Gertz.

Ultramar bought the Wilmington refinery in 1988 for $440 million, considered a large sum at the time. The refinery processes about 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Times staff writer Rick Holguin contributed to this story.