Tampa: The first-quarter contract price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa is $75/lt. The contract was valued at $69.55/lt in fourth-quarter 2016.
Refinery utilization continued to tumble last week after posting near-record highs to start the year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) put run rates at 88.3 percent for the week ending Jan. 20, a 2.4 percent drop from the week-ago 90.7 percent, and a full 5.3 percent down from 93.6 percent logged in first-week January. The rate trailed the year-ago 90.6 percent, but kept ahead of the 86.9 percent five-year average.
Average daily crude inputs were also down. Refiners processed an average 16.047 million barrels/d, the EIA said, a drop of 421,000 barrels/d from 16.468 million barrels/d in the previous report.
U.S. Gulf: Marathon Petroleum Corp. was expected to restart a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) last week at its Galveston Bay refinery, located in Texas City, Texas, Reuters reported.
The unit has been offline since Jan. 9 as part of a planned turnaround at the 459,000 barrel/d facility. A number of units included in the turnaround are scheduled to remain offline until March, including a 218,500 barrel/d crude distillation unit, a 64,000 barrel/d residual hydrotreater, and a pair of reformers processing a combined 130,000 barrels/d.
Sources called last-done on the Gulf solid sulfur export market in the $75-$77/mt FOB range, with new offers described at $80/mt FOB.
Vancouver: Sources reported a slow Vancouver export market, with spot pricing generally described as steady in the high $80s/mt FOB. Additional scattered sales were reported in the low $90s/mt FOB. Short-term contract tons were said to run equal with spot.
Market watchers traced the slow week at Vancouver to a slumbering Chinese import market, essentially shut down due to the Lunar New Year celebration beginning Jan. 28. Last-done on that market was quoted in the $101-$107/mt CFR range. Sources were divided on which direction the price might turn post-holiday.
Netbacks to Alberta producers continued at (-)$55-$20/mt FOB.
ADNOC: The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. announced the Jan. 20 restart of units at its Ruwais refinery complex, with production expected to resume in the following week.
Capacity was cut to 50 percent of the facility’s stated 800,000 barrel/d capacity following a fire in an olefin conversion unit on Jan. 11. Both the fire and lost production were confined to the complex’s newer west-side unit, a $9 billion expansion completed in 2015. The cause of the fire was unknown.
ADNOC offered January prills at $92/mt FOB Ruwais, $4/mt higher than $88/mt FOB in December.