Tampa: The second-quarter contract price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa was $70/lt, $25/lt below the first-quarter price of $95/lt.
Refinery runs fell last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Refiners operated at 89.1 percent capacity for the week ending May 6, a decline of 0.6 percent from the previous week’s 89.7 percent, and also below last year’s 91.2 percent, but equal to the 89.1 percent five-year average.
Despite the reduced utilization, daily inputs jumped higher, EIA said. Crude inputs averaged 16.179 million barrels/d, 193,000 barrels/d above the previous week’s 15.986 million barrels/d.
U.S. Gulf: Gulf cargoes were quoted at $65-$70/mt FOB, unchanged from the previous week.
U.S. Imports: March imports were down 23 percent, to 100,260 st from the year-ago 130,655 st. July-March were off only 6 percent, to 1.21 million st from 1.28 million st.
Vancouver: With supply constrained by the Alberta wildfire, Vancouver export players were faced with difficult choices, sources said.
Unable to meet demand, many sellers prioritized contract shipments over spot commitments, leading to a number of spot export shipments “not being met,” said one seller. A mild bump was reported in offshore pricing for the week, with last-done called $70-$78/mt FOB, up from $70-$75/mt FOB at last report.
Domestic Canadian prices were also on the rise thanks to the limited supply. “Canadian business can be done today at multiples above contract price, if supply was available,” said one market player.
Suncor Energy Inc.’s Fort McMurray-area operation, which was reportedly still offline as of May 13 due to Alberta’s devastating wildfire, contributes 500,000 mt/y to the North American market, while Syncrude Canada Ltd. is capable of an additional 600,000 mt/y.
Syncrude’s sprawling facility was shut down the previous week following a large-scale evacuation, although sources said a skeleton crew was onsite to prepare for a restart. Suncor was also preparing to restart operations, possibly as soon as May 13. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) continued production through the fire, but was forced to block material because of limited freight access.
“With regard to Canada, there would not be enough sulfur to meet the needs of domestic Canadian business, offshore business, and U.S. business” in a long-term outage, said one industry veteran. “Extended losses would be crippling for export, as 600,000 mt are needed for the Alberta domestic market alone,” echoed another source. “There are no other sources big enough to compensate for Canadian supply.”
Access to Fort McMurray remained a primary impediment to operations, sources confirmed. Fort McMurray travel was limited to “essential services,” according to the Alberta Ministry of Transportation. Oil Sands commercial vehicles were treated as “essential” as of May 10 and allowed to pass through Fort McMurray to industry operations located north of the city, although access to the city itself was off limits to all but emergency responders.
Despite early-week reports that the fire was growing, the threat to oil and sulfur operations was diminished on May 12. Reports said the fire was moving to the southeast, away from Fort McMurray.
“I think all are hopeful that the reduction in shipments ex-Oil Sands is just a short-term phenomenon, with roads and plant operations opening imminently,” one source commented. “Things are likely returning to normal in the next week or so,” another added.
Alberta prices were called in the (-)$55-$5/mt FOB range for the week.
Last-done at China was quoted in the neighborhood of $85/mt CFR.
West Coast: West Coast prills were unchanged at $65-$70/mt FOB. Molten contracts fell in the $55-$85/lt FOB range for the second quarter.
ADNOC: May formed sulfur offers from the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. were priced at $85/mt Ruwais, a rollover from April. March tons ran $3/mt higher, at $88/mt FOB.
Aramco: Industry players put Saudi Aramco prices for May loading at $85/mt FOB Jubail, unchanged from April. The April and May rates represent a $5/mt decline from the $90/mt FOB March price.
Tasweeq: Qatar state oil producer Tasweeq offered sulfur cargoes at $79/mt FOB Ras Laffan for May, a $1/mt increase from April’s price of $78/mt FOB.