US refiners cut Q1 output after record 2022 figures |
HOUSTON, February 2 (Reuters) – USA refineries are recovering to operating cycles this quarter after high utilization rates last year and aim to operate between 85% and 89% of capacity, according to company forecasts and analyst estimates.
Low rates gasoline, will reduce diesel and jet fuel supplies and help keep profit margins high during one of the weakest demand periods of the year. Running outages reflect the effort to catch up to maintenance. According to analysts, planned overhauls this quarter will be the highest in five years.
According to his strength USAMarathon Petroleum Corp ( MPC.N ), the country’s largest refiner, said it planned to run 88% in the first three months, compared with 94% last quarter. Second-largest Valero Energy Corp ( VLO.N ) is targeting between 85% and 88%, up from 97% last quarter.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. “We were expecting a fairly strong spring turnaround in 2023 after refineries were very busy in 2022,” said Matthew Blair, refining analyst at the research firm.
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Overhauls at plants operated by Marathon, Valero, Exxon Mobil Corp ( XOM.N ) and Phillips 66 ( PSX.N ) are expected to begin in the coming weeks, analysts said. USA Oil refineries along the Gulf Coast will be hardest hit.
Phillips 66 Chief Executive Officer Mark Lashier said on Tuesday that “we are heavily focused on our turnaround” in the first quarter. It plans to operate at mid-80% of capacity, down from 91% last quarter.
Analysts forecast that the revenue from converting a barrel of oil to fuel this quarter, excluding renewable fuel credits, would average 21 per barrel. dollars is predicted to be.
John Auers, managing director of Refined Fuel Analytics, said that refineries 2020 and reduced maintenance in 2021 to reduce the risk of contractors introducing the COVID-19 virus.
Then, in 2022, “they had really high margins, so they squeezed production as much as they could,” Auers said.
Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said in addition to refinery changes, shutdowns at BP Plc’s ( BP.L ) joint venture Toledo, Ohio and Suncor’s Commerce City, Colorado refineries are limiting supply.
Lipow, “I think before you get production back April you are looking at the moon,” he said.
National refining capacity will increase at the end of the first quarter when a new crude still is commissioned at Exxon’s giant Beaumont, Texas refinery. But later in the year when Lyondell Basell ( LYB.N ) closed a Houston refinery compensation will be done.
Auers estimates that U.S. processing capacity will remain roughly at current levels for the rest of the decade and decline in the 2030s. Total capacity fell from about 19 million barrels per day in 2019 to 17.9 million barrels per day last year.
Reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston Editing by Matthew Lewis
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-02-02 23:40:48
Source – reuters
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