Tampa: The second-quarter price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa was $132/lt.
A proposed multibillion-dollar expansion at Exxon Mobile Corp’s Beaumont, Texas, refinery would make the facility the fourth-largest in the world, according to reports.
Early projections by the company revealed plans to double the facility’s current 344,600 barrel/d capacity by the end of the decade. Exxon’s revamped strategy, however, would grow capacity to a reported 850,000 barrel/d output by 2020, making it the largest refinery in the U.S.
U.S. refinery utilization increased last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Capacity was logged at 93.0 percent for the week ending May 1, a 1.7 percent increase from the previous week’s 91.3 percent.
A number of refineries have made efforts to exit seasonal turnarounds earlier than in previous years, sources said, in order to take advantage of historically low oil prices. The week’s utilization rate was higher than last year’s 90.2 percent and the 87.7 percent five-year average.
Average daily crude inputs grew to 16.347 million barrels/d, a 247,000 barrel/d increase from the last reported 16.100 million barrels/d rate.
U.S. Gulf: Sources called the Gulf market unchanged at $130-$135/mt FOB.
U.S. Imports: March imports were up 15 percent, to 130,655 st from the year-ago 113,269 st. July-March imports were off 19 percent, to 1.28 million st from 1.57 million st.
Vancouver: The Vancouver sulfur market firmed last week. Citing renewed strength in the Chinese spot market along with steady demand from Latin America and Australia, sources called the price $145-$155/mt FOB, up from the previous week’s $135-$155/mt FOB.
Loading at Alberta refiner Syncrude 21 remain subdued last week, observers said. In addition to a planned 45-day turnaround now expected to last closer to 60 days, the refinery continued to battle with off-spec hydrogen sulfide in its finished product. “I understand there are a tremendous amount of empty rail cars sitting and parked in storage, waiting for production to come online,” said one observer.
Alberta sulfur was called (-)$10-$85/mt, unchanged from the previous week.
West Coast: West Coast prills were quoted at $130-$140/mt FOB, unchanged from the week before.
The price of California molten sulfur was $90-$130/lt FOB for the second quarter.
ADNOC: ADNOC announced a rollover in the price of Abu Dhabi sulfur. May offerings were listed at $140/mt FOB.
Aramco: The May price of Saudi Aramco sulfur was $140/mt FOB, $25/mt below the April price of $165/mt FOB.
Tasweeq: Qatar-produced sulfur was $139/mt FOB for May.