Tampa: The domestic sulfur market remained amply supplied, sources said, despite scattered shortages in the Midwest caused by maintenance-related refinery shutdowns.
Supply was buoyed as well by BP’s Whiting, Ind. refinery, the expansion of which was on line and producing what was thought to be a massive amount of sulfur relative to the plant’s pre-expansion capacity.
Sulfur Cars at Destination, an indicator of length in the market, were “extremely high” on the East Coast. Coupled with phosphate production plant outages rumored to have been experienced at Aurora, N.C., and Plant City, Fla., overall market supply was firmly in the black.
Negotiations for the third-quarter price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa wore on, and the smart money was on a late-July settlement. Sources claimed a handful of sulfur suppliers had already begun settling at an increase of $3/lt above the second-quarter price of $133/lt DEL, though a consensus settlement was not yet reported.
U.S. refinery operating rates spiked for the week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA), climbing to the highest point since June 23, 2006.
Refinery utilization was posted at 93.8 percent of capacity for the week ending July 11, an increase of 2.2 percent from the previous week. The rate was also better than the 92.8 percent turned in for the same week in 2013, and bested the five-year average of 91.4 percent.
U.S. Gulf: Sulfur exported from the Gulf was unchanged in a range of $140-$145/mt FOB.
Vancouver: Sources said international contract levels out of Vancouver had yet to be settled for the third quarter, though there was much debate as to what those final numbers might look like. Sources agreed, however, that the averaged contract price was likely to fall somewhere in a range of $150-$160/mt FOB.
Syncrude’s attempted return to sustained sulfur output hit another stumbling block, sources said. The 2,000 mt/y Alberta refinery was reportedly out of commission since July 6 due to problems related to hydrogen sulfide gas. Sources said Syncrude hoped to return to loading around July 21.
Alberta sulfur netbacks remained in a range of (-)$20-$80/mt for the time being. Sources raised the possibility, however, that the range’s low end could decline based on increased logistics costs from Syncrude’s continued downtime.
West Coast: Sources reported no new data points out of the California market, leaving the price steady in a range of $130-$140/mt FOB.
Benelux: The price of Benelux sulfur for the second quarter was $158-$172/mt. Sources anticipated the arrival of an updated third-quarter price shortly.
ADNOC: The ADNOC sulfur price for July was $170/mt, up $20/mt from the June price of $150/mt.