World Oil (Bloomberg) — The 30-minute fire at LyondellBasell Industries NV’s Houston refinery Tuesday underscored just how quickly U.S. gasoline production can fall at a time when the country is experiencing record-high prices at the pump. The blaze took out a big coker vital in fuel production and forced the 270,000 barrel-a-day oil processor to cut crude rates for what
CNBC U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is expected to meet with refining executives on June 23 as tensions between the White House and the oil industry mount over soaring gasoline prices, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Source: CNBC The planned talks come as President Joe Biden, under pressure over high gasoline prices, has demanded that oil refining companies explain why
World Oil (Bloomberg) — More than 100 people died in an explosion at an illegal oil refinery in southeastern Nigeria over the weekend, demonstrating the dangers associated with an illicit industry that thrives in the crude-producing region. The blast at a site in the Abaezi forest during the night of April 22-23 killed at least 110 people, said Ifeanyi Nnaji,
Nasdaq U.S. oil refiners expect strong first-quarter earnings as margins to sell gasoline and diesel strengthened due to a steep dropoff in refining capacity and crude oil supplies tightened because of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Refining capacity worldwide has dropped during the coronavirus pandemic, with several less profitable oil refineries closing in the last two years. However, worldwide fuel demand
Reuters Refiners are planning to spend the summer increasing jet fuel and diesel production instead of gasoline, traders and analysts said, favoring what have historically been the least profitable parts of the barrel instead of the most profitable. That is unusual and exemplifies the topsy-turvy nature of the global oil markets. Refining crude oil into diesel or jet fuel is
World Oil Bloomberg) — Russian refiners are trimming their output, threatening to exacerbate a European diesel market already in short supply, Gunvor Group Chief Executive Officer Torbjorn Tornqvist said. “This is a global problem but for Europe it’s very hard because Europe is so short” of diesel, Tornqvist said at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit. Diesel is still flowing
Nasdaq HOUSTON, Nov 15 – Workers locked out of their jobs at an Exxon Mobil XOM.N oil refinery this week begin casting ballots in a vote that will decide the fate of the United Steelworkers union (USW) at their Texas plant. Exxon locked out union members from the 2,700-acre Beaumont, Texas, refinery and oil packaging plant on May 1 after failed
Reuters Marathon Petroleum Corp signaled on Tuesday that a sustained rally in natural gas prices could take a toll on earnings, sending the largest U.S. refiner’s shares down 4%. The warning comes after U.S. natural gas prices soared more than 60% in the third quarter — translating into higher costs since natgas is used to power refining operations — as sky-rocketing global
Rigzone (Bloomberg) — Some U.S. motorists who’d been expecting an end-of-summer relief for gasoline prices should start bracing for higher costs at the pump in the coming days due to Hurricane Ida. Ida made landfall in Louisiana Sunday and is traveling along a path where seven fuel-makers process the equivalent of 12% of the oil refined nationwide. The Category 4
Reuters The owners of Limetree Bay, a Caribbean refinery that was once the largest in the Western Hemisphere, filed for bankruptcy on Monday after lenders balked at putting new cash into a project dogged by cost overruns and regulatory troubles. The St. Croix refinery overhaul was the most expensive effort in nearly a decade to expand refining capacity in the
Reuters Unionized workers will return to work at a Minnesota refinery next week after reaching a six-year contract agreement with Marathon Petroleum that ends a months-long work stoppage, the union said on Thursday. Teamsters Local 120 in St. Paul Park, Minnesota, approved a revised contract offer from Marathon Petroleum after fighting proposals that could have cut jobs and subcontracted maintenance
Reuters SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian refiners are paying the highest premiums for Middle East and Russian crude oil in about a year, due to firm demand and more costly imports from the West, industry sources said. High prices could prompt refiners to draw down inventories, tightening supply buffers even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their
