PBF Energy posts quarterly loss amid maintenance, turnaround activities

May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. refiner PBF Energy PBF.N posted a quarterly loss on Thursday versus year-ago profit, as the fire at its Martinez refinery in California and other turnaround activities weighed on refining margins.

U.S. refineries typically undergo seasonal maintenance and turnaround activities in preparation for the summer driving season. This temporarily reduces refinery utilization, and the ability to capture revenue from margins.

"Policy volatility, macroeconomic uncertainty, the Martinez incident and planned maintenance within PBF's refining system created a very challenging first-quarter environment," CEO Matt Lucey said.

A fire had broken out on February 1 at its 156,400-barrel-per-day Martinez refinery, impacting operations. Limited operations were restored in April, and the remaining units are likely to restart during the fourth quarter.

The Parsippany, New Jersey-based refiner said first-quarter loss attributable to the company was $401.8 million, or $3.53 per share, compared with income of $106.6 million, or $0.86 per share, a year earlier.

PBF Energy said its consolidated gross refining margin was a loss of $6.39 per barrel in the first quarter, compared with $2.68 per barrel it earned a year earlier.

The company said its crude oil and feedstocks throughput in the reported quarter fell to 730,400 barrels of oil per day from 897,400 bpd a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the company posted a loss of $3.09 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with estimates of a loss of $3.12 according to data compiled by LSEG.