Flying J to take over Bakersfield Refinery

A truck stop has saved a California refinery from closing--and with an anticipated increase in gas prices, the timing couldn't be better:

The Bakersfield refinery once doomed to closure by Shell Oil Co. will be turned over next week to Flying J Inc., a Utah truck-stop operator that plans to double the plant's gasoline production.

Flying J, which runs one of the nation's largest truck-stop chains and had estimated revenue of $7.5 billion in 2004, plunked down a reported $130 million for the refinery. Its output represents only a small slice of the California market, but it's a profitable one, given high gasoline and diesel prices.

You'd have to imagine that consumers not using the truck stops would only benefit if excess inventories were sold to stations outside the Flying J chain.