Key Risks Facing U.S. Refiners in 2020
2020 is shaping up to be another year of volatility for the downstream industry as crude prices, product demand, export markets, and refinery specific developments all have the potential to make...
View Article“Sweet Emotion” – Are Heavy Sweet Crudes the Answer to IMO 2020?
IMO 2020 is finally here and the shift to low sulfur bunker fuel is in full swing. In one of our past blogs, we discussed the options that exist to refiners to remain competitive with the...
View Article“Don’t Stop Believin” – Will the IMO Distillate “Bump” ever arrive?
Leading up to IMO 2020 just about everyone predicted that the required increased flow of distillates into the bunker market would significantly boost distillate cracks. Well IMO 2020 is finally here...
View ArticleWhere is Mexico’s Oil Industry Headed Under AMLO?
After a little more than a year into his presidency, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known most commonly as “AMLO,” is already having a major impact on Mexico’s energy landscape. His administration has...
View Article“Don’t Look Back” – Oil Majors look to future climate change challenges (and...
As fourth quarter and full year 2019 earnings season draws to a close, we pause to reflect on a difficult year for the industry but also take note of a future holding both challenges and opportunities....
View Article“The Waiting is the Hardest Part” – Various Factors Delay IMO Benefits for...
Today, we continue our blog series reviewing highlights from the recent Q4 2019 earnings calls. In last week’s blog, we shared key takeaways from the earnings calls for the Integrated Majors, focusing...
View Article“Got Me Under Pressure” – TM&C Studies Analyze Impacts of Multiple Pressures...
The early days of the new decade of the 2020s has shown to be a challenging one for refiners, with both anticipated and unanticipated events leading to an uncertain and challenging environment for...
View Article“O Canada” – Canadian Integrated Refiners look beyond pipeline constraints...
Continuing pipeline constraints out of Western Canada and the ensuing production curtailment program that began in early 2019 has resulted in significant price volatility between the WTI and WCS...
View Article“Crazy Train” – Midstream Earnings Season
The past several years had already been a difficult period for the midstream world (in terms of equity performance), but the past few weeks have been particularly harsh. Yesterday’s oil price crash as...
View Article“Free Fallin” – Falling Crude Prices and Product Demand; What Does this Mean...
The dramatic events of the last week and a half have thrown the entire world and each of our individual lives into very unpredictable and scary territory. This is certainly true for the petroleum...
View Article“A New Day Yesterday” – What does the sudden shift in crude differentials...
The COVID-19 pandemic and Saudi/Russia oil war has so dramatically changed the world and in such a short time, that Jethro Tull’s late 60’s classic, “A New Day Yesterday” seems entirely appropriate to...
View Article“End of the Line” – COVID-19 demand destruction: What will it mean for...
The drastic lockdown measures being employed to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus is resulting in a drop in petroleum product demand that is unprecedented in both magnitude and speed. With no...
View Article“We’re Not Gonna Take It” – Which Crudes Do Refiners Back Away From as They...
Last week, we discussed the challenges refiners are experiencing in the face of the sharpest and quickest drop in demand the world has ever experienced. Our focus in that blog was on how much refinery...
View Article“We’re Not Gonna Take It” – Which crudes are PADD 3 refiners going to back...
Last week, we began our series analyzing how the collapse in petroleum demand and subsequent required reductions in refining throughput will impact crude slates at U.S. refineries. In that blog, we...
View Article“We’re Not Gonna Take It” – A Look at Crude Slate Impacts in PADDs 1 and 5
Over the last two weeks, we have discussed how the unprecedented drop off in petroleum demand from COVID-19 lockdown measures is impacting crude slates at U.S. refineries. In the previous blogs, we...
View Article“Up Around the Bend” – What lies ahead for product demand and refiners...
As refiners looked toward 2020, many had dreams of growing margins driven by a continuation of strong global economic activity supplemented by an expected IMO boost to product margins and widening of...
View Article“Smoke on the Water” – IMO 2020 Update
In what was the most highly anticipated event to occur in the bunker industry, in the last decade, IMO 2020 is now but a memory of the past as COVID-19 has taken center stage. The pandemic has caused...
View ArticleHow COVID-19 changed everything. An earnings call season for the Ages!
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact not only on our everyday lives but also on the companies we work for. Across the industry, companies have had to make dramatic changes in the way they...
View ArticleEPA issues Proposed Rule for Fuels Streamlining
On Thursday, May 14, the Fuels Streamlining proposed rule was posted in the Federal Register. “This action proposes to update the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) existing gasoline, diesel, and...
View ArticleAs COVID-19 related demand challenges continue, U.S. Refiners brace for...
In last week’s blog, we mentioned steps the integrated majors were taking in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. independent refiners were no different. They all took steps to support community...
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