Tampa: Sources reported that Gulf Coast refineries experienced no major production difficulties stemming from heavy rains last week. The region experienced up to 10 inches of rainfall from the remains of Hurricane Patricia, raising anxieties that the unusual weather might hinder production.
Mosaic made good on plans to begin production at its New Wales, Fla., solid sulfur melter in October, with sources confirming that the facility was scheduled to go online Oct. 29. “The melter is starting movements today,” one source said.
Molten sulfur delivered to Tampa is priced at $110/lt for the fourth quarter.
U.S. refinery utilization ticked higher for a second consecutive week, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Domestic capacity was reported at 87.6 percent for the week ending Oct. 23, a 1.2 percent jump from the prior week’s 86.4 percent.
Current-week numbers beat both the year-ago 86.6 percent and the five-year average of 86.9 percent. Sources expect utilization to continue its rise into November as more refineries exit fall turnarounds.
Average daily crude inputs rose to 15.616 million barrels/d, an increase of 271,000 barrels/d from the previous week’s 15.345 million barrels/d.
U.S. Gulf: Last-done from the Gulf prill market remained in the $105-$110/mt FOB range, source said.
Expectations persisted that recent China spot market strengthening would translate to firmer bids from Brazil in the next round of business.
Vancouver: Driven by Chinese port inventories pegged around 900,000 mt, the Chinese spot market was said to hold gains from the previous week’s mid-$130s/mt CFR.
Rumors of Vancouver sellers taking advantage of the improved market conditions went unconfirmed, leaving last-done transactions in the neighborhood of $110/mt FOB, sources said.
Market watchers were keeping an eye on fourth-quarter negotiations for sulfur supplied from Alberta. Despite the decrease in Tampa, some Alberta refiners were said to balk at returning to negative netbacks using the new Tampa price as a guide.
“Alberta dropped some, but not the full $27/mt,” one source said. “A lot of the Oil Sands guys won’t go negative (again).”
Netbacks were called around (-)$5-$85/mt, unchanged from the previous week.
West Coast: West Coast formed sulfur was unchanged at $105-$110/mt FOB. Fourth-quarter molten contracts fell in a range of $65-$115/lt FOB.
ADNOC: September ADNOC pricing was $135/mt FOB Ruwais, sources said.
Aramco: Saudi Aramco’s offer price for November formed sulfur was $115/mt FOB Jubail, a decrease of $8/mt from October’s $123/mt.
Tasweeq: Following the recent bounce at China, Tasweeq raised its price of November prill to $124/mt FOB Ras Laffen, a $21/mt increase from the $103/mt FB October price.