From Reuters A petrochemical disaster outside Houston that has disrupted ship traffic for days at a major U.S. oil port led two major refineries on Monday to reduce fuel production, according to people familiar with the matter. A fire and fuel leak at Mitsui & Co Inc’s Intercontinental Terminals Co storage facility in Deer Park, Texas, last week sent gasoline,
From Bloomberg In the $40 trillion global oil-trading market, the smallest clue can be worth millions. Take the number of people working at a refinery: Outside contractors are brought in for routine maintenance or to handle accidents that could limit demand for crude oil or curb the supply of fuels. While oil companies rarely reveal such sensitive information, traders can
From Bloomberg U.S. refiners aren’t just buying crude to turn into gasoline and diesel — they’re competing with producers and traders to export it. Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Phillips 66 — two of the three biggest U.S. independent fuelmakers — are getting in on the shale export boom. Both are part owners of existing pipelines and new ones being built from the Permian
From Bloomberg America’s gasoline producers can run, but they can’t hide from a plunge in refining profit margins that sanctions against Venezuelan crude would only worsen, analysts said. The biggest U.S. refiners are expected to report strong fourth-quarter earnings thanks to profits from diesel processing in a strong U.S. economy, as well as a drop of about 40 percent in crude prices.
From Bloomberg U.S. light oil has become too cheap for Gulf Coast refiners to pass up. Fuel makers on the Gulf, home to the largest cluster of refineries in the world, processed oil with an average API gravity of 33.06 in October, according to the Energy Information Administration. The measure of oil density matches a record set in February, when
Lower prices for Iran’s oil mean better margins for refiners, competition for Russia Refineries across Europe are anticipating the return of Iranian crude oil to their operations, and the potentially higher margins as added crude pushes prices down further. Approximately 27.5% of Iran’s crude exports were to Europe in 2011, and refiners are excited to see the crude return, according
The EIA released a report showing its expectations for the refining sector based on U.S. oil production and whether or not crude oil export laws are reversed How increased production and U.S. export laws might affect refiners has been a topic of considerable debate, so much so in fact that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) decided that not only would
