Refiners Archives - Oil & Gas 360

How did America get from closing refineries to invoking the Defense Production Act to build refining capacity?

September 16, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – In April 2020, as COVID-19 shut down economies, grounded airplanes and emptied highways, I participated in a conference call with energy analytics company. One slide from that presentation has remained in my files for more than six years. Its title was simple: “Long term damage being done to high cost non-OPEC

Gasoline prices don’t have a political party

September 15, 2026

(Oil & Gas 360) By Greg Barnett, MBA – Obama Understood the Politics. Biden Worsened It With Failed Energy Policies. Faced it in 2022. Trump Confronts it in 2026. Gasoline prices may be one of the few economic statistics Americans can recite without opening an app, reading an analyst report, or waiting for a government release. The number is posted

Refiners elbow traders to take a larger slice of Venezuela’s oil

July 21, 2026

(BOE Report) – Refiners and oil-producing firms in the U.S. and elsewhere are gaining market share in Venezuela’s crude as they sign direct contracts with state-run PDVSA, challenging the global traders that inked earlier deals with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Trading houses Vitol and Trafigura currently control the lion’s share of Venezuela’s oil exports through agreements signed

Physical oil prices hit record highs near $150 a barrel as Hormuz crisis worsens

April 7, 2026

(Investing) – LONDON – European and Asian refiners are paying record high prices of near $150 a barrel for some crude oil grades, far exceeding prices for paper futures, highlighting the worsening supply crisis from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran. The Iran war has forced the shutdown of at least 12 million barrels per day – about 12% of world supply

US crude premiums climb to record levels as Asia, Europe compete for supply

April 6, 2026

(BOE Report) – Spot premiums for U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude have jumped to all-time highs as competition between Asian and European refiners for supply heats up to replace Middle Eastern oil flows disrupted by the Iran war, industry sources said. Europe is typically the largest importer of U.S. crude, but competition has escalated with Asian buyers scouring for supply

The new energy shock, Part 3: Where capital moves next

April 2, 2026

(By Oil & Gas 360) – The first phase of the energy shock moved prices. The second reshaped flows. The third is now redirecting capital. As volatility moves from crude into refined products and logistics, investors are beginning to reposition, not around headline oil prices, but around where the system is tightening most. That shift is already visible. Refiners are

U.S. sanctions disrupt Chinese teapots’ purchases of Iranian oil

May 8, 2025

(Oil Price) – Independent Chinese refiners have started to experience difficulties in procuring cheap Iranian crude oil while others have stopped purchases from Iran, after the United States sanctioned two independent refiners in the past two months, sources with knowledge of the issue have told Reuters. Chinese crude oil imports topped 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, the highest volume

Refiners defy oil price slump with strong Q1 profits on solid margins

May 8, 2025

(Oil Price) – Despite slumping oil prices, global refiners are turning in strong first-quarter earnings, thanks to a sharp rebound in profit margins, Reuters reports, with U.S. Gulf Coast refiners processing Mars crude enjoying a doubling of margins to some $16 per barrel, $7 margins in Singapore for Dubai crude, and a 36% margin jump in Asia for Arab Light crude. All in

Global gasoline cracks collapse, blow to refiners’ profits

July 25, 2022

US News A sudden crash in global gasoline prices in the past two weeks has dented refiners’ profits, pushing up inventories in key trading hubs around the world while looming exports from China and India also add to pressure on growing stockpiles. Refiners will be forced to cut gasoline output to safeguard themselves against losses and switch to producing

Biden and the oil industry are talking past each other

June 16, 2022

Yahoo Finance Remember the outrage when a handful of U.S. oil refineries closed in 2020? If you don’t, that’s because there wasn’t any outrage. Oil and gasoline prices were blissfully low and the COVID-19 pandemic dominated the news. Hardly anybody noticed. Energy investors certainly did, however, because 2020 was one of the worst years in history for energy producers. Exxon Mobil

Gas Price Pain Ahead if Refiners Face Restart Struggle

September 1, 2021

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

Column: Bearish signal for crude as China again draws on inventories

May 18, 2021

Reuters LAUNCESTON, Australia – China is likely to have dipped into its crude oil stockpiles in April, the third time in the past seven months it has done so, a sign that the era of massive inventory builds may be coming to an end. China’s refiners processed about 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) more crude than what was available

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