By Nathan Risser and Eliyahu Kamisher, Bloomberg

California legislators are considering giving Valero Energy Corp. hundreds of millions of dollars to cover refinery maintenance costs in a bid to prevent the closure of a San Francisco-area fuel plant.

Under such a deal, the state would pay Valero to continue operating its Benicia refinery, according to people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The plant is slated to close by April, the latest in a string of recent California fuel-plant shutdowns.

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Between $80 million and $200 million of state funds would likely be earmarked for routine maintenance work, although the terms of the arrangement could be subject to change, the people said. Maintenance is one of the

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