Valero files lawsuit against PG&E over Benicia refinery power outage

(Reuters) – Valero Energy Corp filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), after PG&E shut off all electricity to Valero’s Benicia, California refinery in early May, the company said on Friday.

The company was seeking damages in excess of $75 million for damage to critical refinery equipment, lost revenue and other damages due to an emergency shutdown of the entire 145,500 barrel-per-day refinery, it said.

The lawsuit alleges that PG&E, California’s largest utility company, breached its contract with Valero when it caused both the primary and backup power supplies to the refinery to go down simultaneously without any prior notice, the company said.

(Reporting by Swati Verma and Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru)