There is still no word on when Hess will put retail sites on the market, or whether it will try to move its vast retail network in one fell swoop or in regional pieces.

Goldman Sachs is handling the book of business on the terminals and sources say the preference is to move the facilities to a single buyer.

The bank will, however, reportedly allow bidders to separate the St. Lucia terminal and storage network in the Caribbean, and may also separate bids on southeastern properties from storage and terminals including Baltimore and northern locations.

Those familiar with the package believe that prices tendered could be all over the map. Approximate EBITDA on the East Coast terminal network is around $80 million annually, which posits to prices that could vary between $500 million and $700 million based on typical “multiples” paid to earnings.

The prospectus for the package implies that EBITDA might easily be boosted to $120 million, which would push the price north of $1 billion.

Several master limited partnerships (MLPs) as well as a refinery or two and some private equity firms are expected to advance to a second round of bidding.

A package offering Hess’ commercial and industrial natural gas and electricity business will probably attract between six and twelve bidders, with utilities representing the most motivated buyers.

There is the possibility that bankers could look to move the terminal network along with the retail to a single buyer, once the retail package is on the market.

The price under those circumstances, however, would probably be $3 billion to $4 billion or more, and keep all but the most well-heeled companies out of the process.

Many of the terminals rely on Hess stations for a lot of the gasoline throughput revenue, and some consideration on continuing that business is part of the property offering, OPIS is told.