Philadelphia-Area Refiners Push Biofuels Program Reform
Oil refinery workers, executives and local politicians gathered near Philadelphia on Monday to urge the White House revamp the nation's renewable fuels program, arguing the future of their plants are at stake. The U.S. renewable fuel program requires higher levels of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into the nation's fuel pool, a requirement pitting the oil industry against the powerful farm lobby.
East Coast Refiners Mull Texas Oil as North Dakota Alternative
U.S. East Coast refiners are looking to buy increasing volumes of domestic crude oil from the Gulf Coast, two sources said, the latest twist in a trade flow upheaval in the wake of the opening of the Dakota Access pipeline. Major U.S. East Coast refiners profited from railing hundreds of thousands of barrels of discounted Bakken crude to their plants daily from 2013 until 2015. But as more and more pipelines were built in North Dakota, the discount began to disappear, and so did the rail cars.
'Insane' U.S. Diesel, Gasoline Prices Vex Refiners
The hot summer months are the boom time for U.S. gasoline sales, and naturally the season when refiners are all-in on pumping out the motor fuel for drivers on U.S. highways. But an unusual glut of gasoline - just as refiners are ramping up to produce more - has caught them on the wrong side of distillate margins for the second time in less than 12 months. Instead of minting bigger profits on refining gasoline…
Airline Hedges Fuel Rally in Later Dated Oil Prices
Big airlines are making waves in the oil market for the first time since prices went into a tailspin nearly two years ago, betting this may be their best chance to lock in cheap jet fuel for years to come, industry and market sources say. A number of airlines moved last week to place significant oil price hedges for 2017, 2018 and even 2019, according to three trading sources familiar with money flows. They declined to specify companies…
Valero Energy Sues US EPA over Biofuels Plan
Valero Energy Corp filed lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to push the regulator to alter a U.S. policy designed to boost use of renewables in transportation fuels. The country's top refiner and No. 3 ethanol producer filed a challenge with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to review the EPA's latest Renewable Fuel Standard plans for 2014-2016. It also asked the court to reopen its standards from 2010 and 2007…
U.S. Refinery Cuts Quicken, Impact Crude Markets
For the past six years, U.S. refiners from Texas to Philadelphia have bought every barrel of crude they can lay their hands on to cash in on a golden era of healthy margins. Now, at least five refiners - including two of the country's largest - have voluntarily cut output of gasoline and distillate in the most widespread cuts since the global financial crisis, moves that may deepen crude's prolonged rout as storage tanks at Cushing, Oklahoma, the main U.S. oil hub, near capacity.
No Cheap Fuel Bonanza for Airlines
While airlines are in no rush to pass on fuel savings to passengers brought by the collapse in oil prices, the Houston travel market has left them little choice. Airlines serving the U.S. oil capital have resorted to steep discounts to lure newly budget-conscious energy executives back into the air, according to an analysis of ticket prices provided exclusively to Reuters. Crude's 70-percent drop in the past…
U.S. Airlines Rethink Hedging Strategy
The lowest fuel prices for more than a decade are proving to be a double-edged sword for U.S. airlines. While carriers saved hundreds of millions of dollars from oil prices halving since June, they forfeited a large chunk of that gain because of the fuel hedges they bought as protection against oil rising. The bulk of those hedges - which effectively lock in fuel costs in advance - are set at levels that force airlines to pay more for fuel than current market prices…
Delta's Philly Refinery at 110 pct, Margins Swell
Delta Air Lines Inc is running its Philadelphia area oil refinery at a near-record 110 percent of capacity, according to a person familiar with operations, a sign of the surprisingly strong summer profits U.S. refineries are generating. While collapsing global crude oil markets have cast a dark shadow over much of the energy industry, refiners are running flat out this summer to meet record U.S. demand for gasoline.
U.S. Airlines Burned Again by Fuel Hedging
At least two U.S. airlines have started hedging their fuel costs after a months-long hiatus. The early result: more losses. Southwest Airlines Co and United Continental Holdings Inc have added new hedges against a rise in oil prices just months after bets last year cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. With U.S. crude prices falling 21 percent since early June, Southwest appeared to regret the decision.
US Refiners' Group Wants Wide Debate on Oil Exports
The U.S. oil refining industry's association is not opposed to lifting the country's 40-year-old ban on crude exports as long as the move is part of a bigger effort to lower barriers to trade, the group's new head said on Tuesday. "We're not opposed to lifting the export ban, but we would like to think there could be a broader discussion," about all trade barriers in petroleum markets, Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), told reporters.
Oil Drillers Group to Fight U.S. Export Ban
More than a dozen U.S. oil producers have joined to lobby the federal government to reverse the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude exports, a move that supporters hope would create jobs and boost national security, a spokesman for one of the companies and a lobbyist for another one said on Friday. Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, or PACE, is the first lobbying group to form on reversing the ban. "The end game here is legislative repeal of the ban…
U.S. Oil Export Battle Heats Up as Drillers Group to Fight Ban
More than a dozen U.S. oil producers have joined to lobby the federal government to reverse the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude exports, a move that supporters hope would create jobs and boost national security, a spokesman for one of the companies and a lobbyist for another one said on Friday. Producers for American Crude Oil Exports, or PACE, is the first lobbying group to form on reversing the ban. "The end game here is legislative repeal of the ban…
Jones Act Tanker Chartered for Airline Refinery
Delta Air Lines Inc's refining unit has chartered a U.S.-flagged oil tanker for the first time, allowing it to tap directly into cheap Texas shale oil as the company overhauls its supply strategy. Monroe Energy LLC, the Delta subsidiary that runs the airline's 165,000 barrel per day (bpd) Trainer refinery, has time-chartered the 330,000-barrel MR Seabulk Arctic, a Jones Act vessel built in 1998, for two years beginning in August, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Delta Inks 5-Year Pact for US Crude
Delta Air Lines Inc, trying to boost savings on manufacturing of jet fuel, said on Monday it reached a five-year agreement with a Dallas energy company for 65,000 daily barrels of U.S. crude oil to be supplied to its Pennsylvania refinery. Delta subsidiary Monroe Energy said in a statement its accord with Bridger LLC will supply about one-third of the oil refined daily at the Trainer refinery in suburban Philadelphia. Combined with other U.S.
