Earnings from retail marketing saw a $22 million drop compared to the same quarter in 2010 due to lower average retail gasoline margins.

Sunoco Inc. reported a net loss attributable to Sunoco shareholders of $101 million ($0.84 per share diluted) for the first quarter of 2011 compared to a net loss attributable to Sunoco shareholders of $63 million ($0.53 per share diluted) for the first quarter of 2010.

Excluding special items, Sunoco had a loss of $122 million ($1.01 per share diluted) for the first quarter of 2011 versus first quarter 2010 income of $17 million ($0.14 per share diluted).

“The sharp rise in crude oil prices created very challenging market conditions in the first quarter which, along with some significant operational reliability issues at two of our refineries, negatively impacted earnings. We have been aggressively focused on addressing the reliability issues,” said Lynn Elsenhans, Sunoco’s chairman and CEO. “During the first quarter, we continued to make progress on growing our retail and logistics businesses and separating SunCoke Energy from Sunoco. We finished the quarter with approximately $1.5 billion in cash, which gives us strategic flexibility to further pursue our growth plans.”

Highlights include:

• Retail and Logistics contributed pretax income of $43 million

• Retail Marketing earned $12 million pretax in the current quarter versus $34 million in the first quarter of 2010. The decrease in earnings was primarily due to lower average retail gasoline margins largely driven by the inability to fully pass-through wholesale price increases caused by the run up in crude prices

• SunCoke Energy earned pretax income of $9 million and acquired Harold Keene Coal Co. Inc. and its related assets, increasing the Company’s coal reserves
• Refining and Supply reported a pretax loss of $138 million
• Completed the sale of the Toledo refinery and related crude oil and refined product inventory
• Special items include a $15 million pretax net gain from the sale of the Toledo refinery and related inventory to PBF and a $42 million pretax gain resulting from the reduction of crude oil and refined product inventories at the Toledo refinery prior to its sale

“The recent filing of SunCoke’s registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission represents an important step in the separation process,” Elsenhans said. “We also have an exceptional and experienced management team in place and we expect to complete the relocation of SunCoke’s corporate headquarters to the Chicago area in May. Establishing SunCoke as an independent company remains a priority.”