Tampa: Molten sulfur delivered to Tampa was contract-priced at $70/lt DEL for the second quarter, a decrease from $75/lt in Q1.
Refinery utilization rose again last week, the industry’s sixth consecutive weekly increase, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA noted capacity at 94.1 percent for the week ending April 21, a 1.2 percentage point jump from the prior week’s 92.9 percent, and also considerably higher than the year-ago 88.1 percent and the five-year average of 89.6 percent.
Average daily crude inputs posted a record 17.285 million barrels/d, cracking the 17-million-barrel mark for the first time since Jan. 6. Refiners processed an average 16.938 million barrels/d in the prior week, a 347,000 barrel/d difference.
U.S. Gulf: Sources described softening spot prices out of the Gulf, calling last-done cargoes in the mid-$70s/mt FOB.
Vancouver: Observers described fresh Vancouver spot tons in the $73-$77/mt FOB range, down from $83-$87/mt FOB quoted previously.
Chevron Corp. will sell its Burnaby, B.C., refinery, located near Vancouver, to Alberta’s Parkland Fuel Corp, numerous sources reported. Parkland immediately announced a $100 million upgrade to the 55,000 barrel/d facility. The eight-week turnaround, scheduled for first-quarter 2018, will curtail production capacity to unspecified levels.
Alberta producer netbacks were unchanged at (-)$55-$20/mt FOB.
Last-done business on the Chinese spot import market was quoted in the $90-$95/mt CFR range, flat from the previous report.
West Coast: Trailing Vancouver lower, observers put West Coast prills at $70-$73/mt FOB, down from $80-$83/mt FOB at last report. Second-quarter molten contracts fell in a $55-$77/lt FOB range, unchanged from the first quarter.
Oman: Oman will partner with Kuwait to build a “state-of-the-art” refinery at the Omani port of Duqm, the Times of Oman reported. Kuwait will retain 50 percent ownership of the facility while supplying 65 percent of the refinery’s crude feedstock. Construction is set to begin in late 2017, with production scheduled to ramp up in 2021.
Some observers viewed the refinery, in part, as an early bid to capitalize on the Middle East’s rapidly-blooming sulfur export industry.