Exhibit 99.2

News Release

Sunoco, Inc.

1801 Market Street

Philadelphia, Pa. 19103-1699

No. 4009

SUNOCO REPORTS SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

PHILADELPHIA, July 22, 2004 — Sunoco, Inc. (NYSE: SUN) today reported net income of $234 million ($3.07 per share diluted) for the second quarter of 2004 versus $81 million ($1.04 per share diluted) for the 2003 second quarter. Results for the current quarter included a $4 million after-tax charge for estimated losses related to retail service stations held for sale. Excluding this special item, income for the second quarter was $238 million ($3.12 per share diluted).

For the first half of 2004, Sunoco reported net income of $323 million ($4.23 per share diluted) versus net income of $167 million ($2.16 per share diluted) for the 2003 first half. Excluding the aforementioned special item, Sunoco’s income for the 2004 first half was $327 million ($4.29 per share diluted). There were no special items in the 2003 first half.

“The second quarter was an outstanding one for Sunoco,” said John G. Drosdick, Sunoco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The combination of strong refined product margins, significant contributions from our recent asset acquisitions and operational improvements in each of our business units enabled Sunoco to report record earnings for the quarter, demonstrating a new level of earnings power.

“Refining and Supply earned $217 million in the second quarter. During a period of record gasoline demand and margins, our refineries achieved record levels of production and operating efficiency to optimally meet market demand. Across our refining system, inputs to crude units averaged 100 percent of capacity and we established new quarterly highs for conversion unit utilization and gasoline production. We have been steadily investing in and improving the operations at our refineries over the past several years and this quarter’s results are a good indication of the progress we have made. The Eagle Point refinery earned $42 million for the quarter and has earned $65 million since we acquired

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it on January 13, 2004. With the addition of Eagle Point, the infrastructure investments we’ve made and the ongoing operational improvements to our refineries, I am confident Refining and Supply can continue to improve operating performance in the future.

“Retail Marketing earned $24 million for the quarter. After lagging behind rising crude oil and wholesale gasoline prices throughout much of the year, retail gasoline margins rebounded sharply in June and averaged 10.7 cents per gallon for the quarter. Our second-quarter results included a $3 million income contribution from the retail sites acquired from Speedway in June 2003 and $5 million from the retail sites acquired from ConocoPhillips on April 28 of this year.”

Drosdick continued, “In addition to acquiring sites, we are also executing a Retail Portfolio Management (“RPM”) program which will reduce our invested capital in certain company-owned sites. As part of this program, we plan to divest or convert to contract dealers or distributors approximately 200 retail sites over the next 18 months. We expect to generate divestment proceeds of approximately $100 million while retaining most of the gasoline sales volume within the Sunoco branded business. While Sunoco’s current period net income includes a $4 million charge for estimated losses associated with the divestment of certain of these sites, we expect the RPM program to generate gains in excess of this recognized loss.

“Further reducing our capital employed in this business, in June, we completed the sale of our proprietary credit card business and related accounts receivable to Citibank for $94 million. The sale and related agreement to transfer servicing of our private label credit card will benefit our customers, dealers and distributors and significantly reduce our ongoing working capital.

“The Retail Marketing business has been a consistent income generator and a high-return business for Sunoco. We believe our strategy of opportunistic acquisitions combined with prudent portfolio management and ongoing retail execution improvements will result in increased earnings and returns from this business in future years.

“Chemicals earned $12 million for the quarter, up modestly from the prior-year comparable quarter. Despite strong demand growth and price increases for both polypropylene and phenol during the first half of 2004, margins have declined versus second-half 2003 levels due to significant increases in benzene and propylene feedstock costs. However, with industry utilization rates continuing to increase, we believe margins should improve, particularly as feedstock costs moderate from recent record-high levels.”

Drosdick added, “Our other businesses, Logistics and Coke, each contributed $9 million to our second-quarter results. These businesses continue to provide a relatively stable earnings stream and excellent growth opportunities to the Company. During the second quarter, Sunoco Logistics Partners

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L.P. acquired an additional interest in the Harbor Pipeline, acquired terminals in Baltimore, MD and Manassas, VA and again raised its cash distribution. At Sun Coke, construction continues on our Haverhill, Ohio coke plant which is expected to be in production by March 2005. We expect additional growth from these businesses in future years.

“Importantly, we also continued to return cash to our shareholders. We increased the dividend for the second time in less than one year, by 9 percent, to $1.20 per share annualized. We also continued our share repurchase program, repurchasing 455,000 shares of Sunoco common stock for $28 million during the quarter. Year-to-date, we have repurchased over 1.0 million shares and have remaining repurchase authorization of over $200 million.

“While growing our asset base with the Eagle Point refinery and the ConocoPhillips retail site acquisitions, we have also strengthened our balance sheet in 2004. We ended the quarter with $535 million of cash and a net debt-to-capital ratio, as defined in our revolving credit agreement, of 34 percent – each improved from year-end 2003. As we look ahead to what Sunoco can achieve over the next several years, both disciplined portfolio growth and returning cash to our shareholders will remain core to our strategy to increase shareholder value.”

DETAILS OF SECOND QUARTER RESULTS

REFINING AND SUPPLY

Refining and Supply earned $217 million in the current quarter versus $50 million in the second quarter of 2003. The increase was largely due to higher realized margins and the $42 million income contribution from the Eagle Point facility acquired in January 2004. Realized margins averaged $7.59 per barrel for the quarter, up over $3.00 per barrel from the prior-year period. Partially offsetting these positive variances were higher expenses.

Total crude unit throughput averaged 887 thousand barrels daily (100 percent utilization) for the quarter, with total production available for sale approximating 85 million barrels. Gasoline production was a record 43 million barrels for the quarter.

RETAIL MARKETING

Retail Marketing earned $24 million in the second quarter of 2004 versus $36 million in the second quarter of 2003. The decline was due largely to lower retail gasoline and distillate margins. Partially offsetting the margin decline were the added earnings from the sites acquired from ConocoPhillips in April 2004 and from Speedway in June 2003.

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CHEMICALS

Chemicals earned $12 million in the second quarter of 2004 versus $10 million in the prior-year period. The increase was due largely to three percent higher sales volumes for polypropylene and phenol and related products.

LOGISTICS

Earnings for the Logistics segment were $9 million in both second quarter periods.

COKE

The Coke business earned $9 million in the second quarter of 2004 versus $11 million in the second quarter of 2003. The decline was largely due to lower tax benefits from Jewell coke operations.

CORPORATE AND OTHER

Corporate administrative expenses were $13 million after tax in the current quarter versus $10 million in the comparable quarter last year. The increase was largely due to higher employee-related expenses, including accruals associated with cash and stock-based compensation.

Net financing expenses were $20 million after tax in the second quarter of 2004 versus $25 million in the prior-year quarter. The decline was primarily due to increased capitalized interest and lower expense attributable to the preferential return of third-party investors in Sunoco’s cokemaking operations.

SPECIAL ITEM

Net income for the second quarter of 2004 included a loss of $4 million after tax related to the Retail Marketing Divestment Program. There were no special items in the second quarter of 2003.

SIX MONTH RESULTS

Sunoco earned $323 million for the first six months of 2004 versus $167 million in the comparable 2003 period. The increase is primarily due to significantly higher wholesale fuel margins, higher chemical margins, income from the recently acquired Eagle Point refinery and Speedway and ConocoPhillips retail gasoline sites and increased earnings related to the 2003 propylene supply agreement with Equistar Chemicals, L.P. The increase was partially offset by lower retail gasoline margins and higher expenses.

Sunoco, Inc., headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products. With 890,000 barrels per day of refining capacity, over 4,800 retail sites selling gasoline and convenience items, over 4,500 miles of crude oil and refined product

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owned and operated pipelines and 37 product terminals, Sunoco is one of the largest independent refiner-marketers in the United States. Sunoco is a significant manufacturer of petrochemicals with annual sales of approximately five billion pounds, largely chemical intermediates used to make fibers, plastics, film and resins. Utilizing a unique, patented technology, Sunoco also manufactures two million tons annually of high-quality metallurgical-grade coke for use in the steel industry.

Anyone interested in obtaining further insights into this quarter’s results can monitor the Company’s quarterly teleconference call, which is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET today (July 22, 2004). It can be accessed through Sunoco’s Web site - www.SunocoInc.com. It is suggested that you visit the site prior to the teleconference to ensure that you have downloaded any necessary software.

Those statements made in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although Sunoco believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and necessarily involve risks that may affect Sunoco’s business prospects and performance causing actual results to differ from those discussed in the foregoing release. Such risks and uncertainties include, by way of example and not of limitation: general business and economic conditions; competitive products and pricing; changes in refining, chemical and other product margins; variation in petroleum-based commodity prices and availability of crude oil supply or transportation; fluctuations in supply of feedstocks and demand for products manufactured; changes in operating conditions and costs; changes in the expected level of environmental capital, operating or remediation expenditures; potential equipment malfunction; potential labor relations problems; the legislative and regulatory environment; plant construction/repair delays; nonperformance by major customers, suppliers or other business partners; and political and economic conditions, including the impact of potential terrorist acts and international hostilities. These and other applicable risks and uncertainties have been described more fully in Sunoco’s Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2004 and in other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sunoco undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in this release, whether as a result of new information or future events.

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Sunoco, Inc.

2004 Second Quarter and Six-Month Financial Summary

(Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Earnings Profile of Sunoco Businesses (after tax)

(Millions of Dollars)

(Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Earnings Profile of Sunoco Businesses (after tax)

(Millions of Dollars)

(Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited)

Certain revisions have been made to Sunoco’s Financial and Operating Statistics presented below. In Refining and Supply, operating data is now provided for the MidContinent Refining Complex (previously, separate data had been provided for the Toledo and Tulsa refineries). Also, the Chemicals margin and volume data as well as certain other financial information reflect the impact of consolidating the Epsilon Products Company, LLC polypropylene joint venture in connection with the adoption of FASB Interpretation No. 46. The polypropylene margin information also now includes the impact of a long-term supply contract entered into on March 31, 2003 with Equistar Chemicals, L.P. and the cost of additives. Prior-period amounts have been restated to conform to the 2004 presentation.

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Sunoco, Inc.

Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited)

COKE

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Sunoco, Inc.

Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Earnings Profile of Sunoco Businesses (after tax)

(Millions of Dollars)

(Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Earnings Profile of Sunoco Businesses (after tax)

(Millions of Dollars)

(Unaudited)

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Sunoco, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Income

(Millions of Dollars)

(Unaudited)