Refineries Initiate Restart Efforts

Market TalkFriday, Aug 28 2020
Market Talk Updates - Social Header

We’ve reached the calm after the storm as the Gulf Coast refining industry is assessing the damage from Hurricane Laura, and most companies seem to be breathing a big sigh of relief.  Unfortunately, much of the country is still going to feel an impact from this storm, as flooding potential stretches through the mid-west and east coast through the weekend.

Three of the refineries that had initiated shutdowns ahead of the storm have already filed with the state that they were beginning restart efforts, and more are expected to follow suit today as reports suggest the plants outside of Lake Charles likely avoided major damage thanks to the eastward shift in the storm’s path prior to landfall.

We will probably not know the status of the two refineries that were operating in Lake Charles before the storm until next week, since damage assessment crews were not allowed into the area Thursday. A major fire in a nearby chemical factory, and the closing of the Interstate 10 bridge due to a runaway casino boat are just a couple of examples of issues that may be hampering those efforts. 

The one critical unknown in terms of regional supply is whether or not the Colonial station near Lake Charles suffered any damage. The pipeline continues to operate downstream, but if Lake Charles is blocked, the barrels originating in the Houston and Port Arthur hubs won’t be able to move through to the rest of the country. There are no reports that the facilities were damaged, they just don’t know since accessing the location may still take a couple more days. Explorer pipeline reported no damage to its facilities, but will still see slight delays in restart due to uncertainty from the local utilities on power supply.

The bad news for refiners that managed to avoid operational issues during the storm is that the boost in margins was short-lived as both gasoline and diesel prices have crumbled, and are now threatening a technical break to the downside that could drag many plants back to the cusp of break-even levels. 

Don’t relax just yet. As is often the case in active hurricane seasons, major hurricanes aren’t isolated events, (i.e. Harvey/Irma/Maria in 2017, Gustav and Ike in 2008, Katrina/Rita/Wilma in 2005). Already this morning, the National Hurricane Center is tracking two new potential systems crossing the Atlantic, both given 30 percent odds of development next week. 

D4 (Bio) RINs hit a fresh 2.5 year high Thursday, as surging soybean prices and falling diesel prices gives a poor outlook for incremental bio blending. Exports to China and weather damage from the Derecho earlier in the month are both getting credit for the rally in Soy prices. Corn and ethanol prices have also been rallying, but have not kept pace with bio, partially due to the fact that ethanol blending is less discretionary, which has kept D6 RINs from pushing through recent highs so far.

The EIA this morning took a closer look at how U.S. refineries have been forced to make drastic operational changes this year due to COVID demand impacts. Perhaps the most impressive piece is how the plants have been able to dramatically shift product yields in response to the wild swings in gasoline and jet fuel demand. That unprecedented shift towards diesel production also helps explain why diesel prices barely flinched this week even when it appeared that Laura might shut down 20 percent of the country’s refining capacity.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.

TACenergy MarketTalk 082820

News & Views

View All
Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkThursday, Mar 28 2024

Energy Markets Are Ticking Modestly Higher Heading Into The Easter Weekend With Crude Oil Prices Leading The Way Up About $1.25/Barrel Early Thursday Morning

Energy markets are ticking modestly higher heading into the Easter Weekend with crude oil prices leading the way up about $1.25/barrel early Thursday morning, while gasoline prices are up around 2.5 cents and ULSD futures are about a penny.

Today is the last trading day for April HO and RBOB futures, an unusually early expiration due to the month ending on a holiday weekend. None of the pricing agencies will be active tomorrow since the NYMEX and ICE contracts are completely shut, so most rack prices published tonight will carry through Monday.

Gasoline inventories broke from tradition and snapped a 7 week decline as Gulf Coast supplies increased, more than offsetting the declines in PADDs 1, 2 and 5. With gulf coast refiners returning from maintenance and cranking out summer grade gasoline, the race is now officially on to move their excess through the rest of the country before the terminal and retail deadlines in the next two months. While PADD 3 run rates recover, PADD 2 is expected to see rates decline in the coming weeks with 2 Chicago-area refineries scheduled for planned maintenance, just a couple of weeks after BP returned from 7 weeks of unplanned repairs.

Although terminal supplies appear to be ample around the Baltimore area, we have seen linespace values for shipping gasoline on Colonial tick higher in the wake of the tragic bridge collapse as some traders seem to be making a small bet that the lack of supplemental barge resupply may keep inventories tight until the barge traffic can move once again. The only notable threat to refined product supplies is from ethanol barge traffic which will need to be replaced by truck and rail options, but so far that doesn’t seem to be impacting availability at the rack. Colonial did announce that they would delay the closure of its underutilized Baltimore north line segment that was scheduled for April 1 to May 1 out of an “abundance of caution”.

Ethanol inventories reached a 1-year high last week as output continues to hold above the seasonal range as ethanol distillers seem to be betting that expanded use of E15 blends will be enough to offset sluggish gasoline demand. A Bloomberg article this morning also highlights why soybeans are beginning to displace corn in the subsidized food to fuel race.

Flint Hills reported a Tuesday fire at its Corpus Christi West facility Wednesday, although it’s unclear if that event will have a material impact on output after an FCC unit was “stabilized” during the fire. While that facility isn’t connected to Colonial, and thus doesn’t tend to have an impact on USGC spot pricing, it is a key supplier to the San Antonio, Austin and DFW markets, so any downtime may be felt at those racks.

Meanwhile, P66 reported ongoing flaring at its Borger TX refinery due to an unknown cause. That facility narrowly avoided the worst wildfires in state history a few weeks ago but is one of the frequent fliers on the TCEQ program with upsets fairly common in recent years.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk, including all charts from the Weekly DOE Report.

Pivotal Week For Price Action
Pivotal Week For Price Action
Market TalkWednesday, Mar 27 2024

Most Energy Contracts Are Ticking Lower For A 2nd Day After A Trickle Of Selling Picked Up Steam Tuesday

Most energy contracts are ticking lower for a 2nd day after a trickle of selling picked up steam Tuesday. ULSD futures are down a dime from Monday’s highs and RBOB futures are down 7 cents.

Diesel prices continue to look like the weak link in the energy chain, with futures coming within 1 point of their March lows overnight, setting up a test of the December lows around $2.48 if that resistance breaks down. Despite yesterday’s slide, RBOB futures still look bullish on the weekly charts, with a run towards the $3 mark still looking like a strong possibility in the next month or so.

The API reported crude stocks increased by more than 9 million barrels last week, while distillates were up 531,000 and gasoline stocks continued their seasonal decline falling by 4.4 million barrels. The DOE’s weekly report is due out at its normal time this morning.

RIN values have recovered to their highest levels in 2 months around $.59/RIN for D4 and D6 RINs, even though the recovery rally in corn and soybean prices that had helped lift prices off of the 4 year lows set in February has stalled out. Expectations for more biofuel production to be shut in due to weak economics with lower subsidy values seems to be encouraging the tick higher in recent weeks, although prices are still about $1/RIN lower than this time last year.

Reminder that Friday is one of only 3 annual holidays in which the Nymex is completely shut, so no prices will be published, but it’s not a federal holiday in the US so banks will be open.

Click here to download a PDF of today's TACenergy Market Talk.