Energy Transfer fails to sell Sunoco: sources

New York

ENERGY Transfer Equity LP, the US pipeline company that agreed to acquire Williams Companies Inc, has held talks to sell gas station and convenience store operator Sunoco LP, according to three people familiar with the matter.

While these discussions were preliminary, they underscore Energy Transfer's efforts to bolster its balance sheet after a plunge in oil prices made its pending acquisition of Williams more financially burdensome than it previously envisioned.

Energy Transfer held conversations to sell Sunoco earlier this year after it was approached by at least one interested company, the sources said this week, who asked not to be identified because the deliber…