Small Refinery Exemptions: Election Year, Leap Year, and “Gap-Year”
On Monday, September 14, the EPA announced it denied 54 “gap-year” petitions filed by small refineries stating that since the refineries have already been able to comply with their past annual RFS...
View Article“Take This Job (Oil) and Shove It” – Thoughts on BP’s 2020 Energy Outlook
“Take this Job and Shove It” was written by David Allen Coe in 1977 and made famous that same year by Johnny Paycheck. Just as the protagonist in the song is making plans to quit his long-time and...
View Article“California Dreamin’ ” – What to make of Governor Newsom’s Plan to Ban...
It seems that the petroleum industry just can’t catch a break these days with demand challenges from COVID-19 related restrictions continuing to linger and politicians blaming climate change and, by...
View ArticleRenewable Diesel Production Pathways
There are currently over 20 announced projects/expansions for renewable diesel (RD) over the next four years in the U.S. totaling close to 275 mb/d of possible additional capacity coming online. On a...
View ArticleU.S. Renewable Diesel Capacity Growth Through 2025 Represents Significant...
Today’s blog was written by PLG Consulting with input from TM&C and previously published on their website. PLG is a leading consulting firm operating primarily in the supply chain and logistics...
View ArticleDarkest Before the Dawn – A Look at Prospects for the European Refining Industry
In this blog post, we focus on the challenges facing the European refining industry and prospects for its future. Having recently joined the Turner, Mason & Company team covering the EMEARC markets...
View ArticleOutlook for Biogas and Renewable Natural Gas
On July 2, 2014, the EPA finalized amendments to the RFS program qualifying additional pathways that could be used in producing renewable fuel. Compressed natural gas (R-CNG) and liquefied natural gas...
View ArticleHeard It Through The Grapevine? Clarifying Some Crude Quality Issues
The following Turning Point blog is provided by Dennis Sutton. Following a 40-year career with Marathon Petroleum, Dennis is now Principal of the consulting firm, PetroQual and serves as the Executive...
View Article“Changes” – A Changing Market Environment Leads to Refinery Closures
Around 500 B.C., the Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated, “The only constant in life is change.” Much more recently David Bowie sang about the same theme in his classic song, “Changes.” For the...
View ArticleEPA Announces Upcoming Workshop December 9 & 10th – Fuels Streamlining
On October 15th, EPA Administrator Wheeler signed the Fuel Streamlining text confirming the regulation will be implemented on January 1, 2021. The EPA is planning to hold a virtual workshop on...
View Article“Back to the Island(s)” – An Update on Caribbean Refineries, Part 1 – LBV/St....
Last week, we discussed the wave of refinery closures that have taken place around the world as a result of the demand destruction caused by the COVID lockdowns. One region we didn’t mention was the...
View Article“Back to the Island(s)” – An Update on Caribbean Refineries, Part 2 –...
Last week, we began a discussion of refining industry developments in the sunny (but sometimes very stormy) Caribbean. As we outlined in that blog, refineries located in the Caribbean islands have in...
View Article“A New Day Yesterday” – What post-COVID looks like for the refining industry
For the global refining industry, 2020 has been an exceptionally tumultuous year. As we’ve discussed in our blogs over the last few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic induced a collapse in the consumption of...
View Article“Money for Nothing” – An update on the Progress (or Lack of Progress) on...
In the last ten years, refining capacity in Latin America has declined by over 230 MBPD in spite of growing demand, which has increased by about 120 MBPD. Further exacerbating this growing imbalance...
View ArticleMerry Christmas 2020 – A Reason to Celebrate
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to persist and impact our lives, lifestyles, and livelihood in so many negative and disruptive ways, it might be tough this Christmas for many of you to get into the...
View ArticleFocus on Fuels
Happy New Year to each of you. I know many throughout the country looked forward to closing the book on 2020, but for those of us in the fuels regulatory arena this was a bitter-sweet ending. Watching...
View ArticleKey Risks for the Oil Markets in 2021
We entered 2020 with the expectation of higher refining margins, driven by a continuation of strong global economic activity supplemented by an expected IMO boost to product margins and widening of...
View ArticleColonial Consequences – The Fallout of a Shuttered Pipeline
On May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline Company learned it was the victim of an apparent ransomware attack. This led the company to proactively shutdown essentially all of the 2.8 MMBPD Colonial Pipeline...
View ArticleBlenders Tax Credit – Should It Stay or Should It Go?
On May 25, 2021, legislation was introduced both in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to extend the biodiesel/renewable diesel blenders tax credit from 2022 to 2025. If this bill becomes...
View Article“Hey, Hey, What Can I Do” – Oil Companies Looking for Ways to Survive Energy...
Part 1 – Integrated Oil Company Strategies Back in 1970, when Led Zeppelin released, “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do,” (their only song not released on an album), the main issue facing the petroleum industry...
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