Tampa: Sources reported a number of operational issues experienced by Gulf Coast refineries for the week.
The issues, described as “both planned and unplanned maintenance,” reportedly contributed to some production loss. The outages were not thought to have significantly affected market supply, however, as overall domestic refinery output has remained strong to date.
Sources said the first of Mosaic’s solid sulfur import vessels had already been melted and processed into the phosphate giant’s inventory. A second vessel was reportedly en route, and Mosaic’s sulfur supplies were said to hover “near the top” of total inventory capacity.
U.S. refinery utilization bounced sharply for the week ending Aug. 15, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, ending a three-week slide that began in late July. Total capacity was put at 93.4 percent, the highest August utilization percentage since 2005, and a 1.8 percent increase over the previous week.
The number also beat the 91.0 percent posted for the third week of August 2013, and bested the five-year-average of 90.7 percent as well.
The price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa was $136/lt, a $3/lt bump from the $133/lt DEL price in the second quarter.
U.S. Gulf: The Gulf price of sulfur was $145-$150/mt FOB.
Vancouver: The spot price of sulfur at Vancouver was called $140-$170/mt FOB, unchanged from the previous week. Sources were keeping a close eye on the fallout from softening prices at China, however, which may have the eventual effect of reducing levels at Vancouver.
Sulfur sold from Alberta was quoted in a range of (-)$20-$80/mt.
West Coast: West Coast sulfur was static at $140-$145/mt FOB.
Benelux: The price of Benelux sulfur remained $158-$172/mt for the third quarter.
ADNOC: ADNOC sulfur was $175/mt for the month of August.
U.S. Imports: June sulfur imports were off 54 percent, to 110,184 st from the year-ago 237,581 st. Fertilizer year imports were off 16 percent, to 1.99 million st from 2.37 million st.