Tampa:
Contracts for molten sulfur delivered to Tampa were pegged at $352/lt CFR for the third quarter, down $129/lt from $481/lt CFR in the second quarter.
US refinery utilization moved down for the week ending Aug. 12, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Operable capacity stood at 93.5% for the week, a 0.8-point decline from the prior week’s 94.3%, but above both the year-ago 92.2% and the 91.9% five-year average.
Daily crude inputs softened to an average 16.423 million barrels/d, down 158,000 barrels/d from the prior week’s16.581 million barrels/d rate.
U.S. Gulf:
Marathon on Aug. 11 restarted production at a 145,000 barrel/d fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCC) at the company’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery, Genscape reported. The unit suffered an unplanned shutdown on Aug. 7 due to a reported equipment malfunction.
ExxonMobil Corp. on Aug. 14 successfully restarted the 97,000 barrel/d Pipestill 8 crude distillation unit (CDU) and a 44,000 barrel/d vacuum distillation unit (VDU) at the ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge, La. The units were reported going offline on Aug. 2.
A 55,000 barrel/d hydrotreater was taken offline on Aug. 14 at the Valero Corpus Christi (East), Texas, refining facility following a bout of flaring reported on Aug. 12. The unit was noted successfully restarting on the morning of Aug. 15.
The Citgo Lake Charles, La., plant restarted a 60,000 barrel/d catalytic reformer on Aug. 13, Genscape indicated. The unit was reported going offline on Aug. 5.
Last-done out of the U.S. Gulf continued to be heard in the $10-$50/mt FOB range, steady from one week earlier.
Brazil:
Brazil spot offers continued to be heard in the $90s/mt CFR. With consumers reportedly maintaining plenty of inventory for now, bids were heard to remain steady around the $50/mt CFR level.
Vancouver:
Vancouver spot was noted climbing to $65-$70/mt FOB for the week based on firmer pricing out of China. The market was previously reported at $60-$65/mt FOB.
Alberta:
Alberta sulfur netbacks lifted to (-)$5-$282/mt FOB from (-)$10-$282/mt FOB due to rising Vancouver levels. The wide spread included both prilled material selling through the Vancouver export market and molten tons contracted into the US.
West Coast:
Chevron Corp. on Aug. 12 restarted a 257,000 barrel/d CDU and an associated 124,000 barrel/d VDU at the company’s refinery in Richmond, Calif., according to Genscape, following a mid-June shutdown for planned maintenance. A 65,000 barrel/d hydrotreater was restarted on Aug. 14, while an activity increase was observed from a 40,000 barrel/d catalytic reformer the same day.
West Coast prills were indicated in the $65-$70/mt FOB range, $5/mt above the prior week’s level. Molten tons loading from the West Coast were reported in the $370-$385/lt FOB range for delivery in the third quarter, falling from $375-$390/lt FOB in 3Q.
China:
A rash of unplanned refinery shutdowns from both state-operated oil companies and independent “teapot” refiners combined to drive China refinery output to a two-year low in July, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and reported by Reuters.
July throughput was reported at an average 12.53 million barrels/d, an 8.8% year-over-year decline and off from 13.37 million barrels/d in June. For the January-July period, throughput was reported at an average 13.09 million barrels/d, down 6.3% compared to the same period in 2021.
Long production outages from the 320,000 barrel/d Sinopec facility in Shanghai and PetroChina’s 200,000 barrel/d Wepec plant were cited as primary contributors to the falling numbers.
Market players described import pricing at China moving to $105-$110/mt CFR in recent trading, up from $95-$100/mt CFR at last report. Some argued the market may have reached a measure of near-term stability around the $110/mt CFR level.
ADNOC:
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. prills were offered at $85/mt FOB Ruwais for August, sources said. July offers were reported at $428/mt FOB, an 80% decline.
Qatar:
Muntajat solid sulfur was heard at $77/mt FOB Ras Laffan for August, down 82% from $428/mt FOB in July.