indiana oil refinery shuts down for maintenance, raising gas prices in midwest

[Pulsar]

Indiana oil refinery shuts down for maintenance, raising gas prices in midwest

Gas jumps 70 cents today back over $3and I get an E-mail from Anandtech signaling the ban on me has been lifted.Coincidence?There is no such things as coincidences.

Like a moth to a lightbulb.

 

[Pulsar]

It seems BP somehow damaged the unit. Given the company's history, even at this refinery, I don't see any reason to suspect foul play.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity

Really? On what authority or source of information are you basing the conclusion that they 'damaged' it?

I work at a manufacturing facility that turns out major components - quickly. Believe it or not, that level of complexity does end up with things breaking down of their own accord.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

There is somewhat of a locational aspect to this, for instance the extremely high crack spreads are due to a glut of Canadian tar sands oil in the upper mid-west that are bottlenecked.

The industry is quite complicated, you have some companies that both extract oil (upstream), and refine oil (downstream). There are some companies that just do one or the other. In general these companies have almost nothing to do with the gasoline station down the road from your house. The gasoline stations, generally independent companies, buy branding rights from the various refiners that offer them, while some refiners do not offer branding rights. When you see gouging at a say an ExxonMobil gasoline station it's really nothing to do with ExxonMobil. The branding rights last for some length of time and the station can decide to brand elsewhere once the contract is up.

High crude prices will always benefit the upstream industry, hence ExxonMobil's record earnings you mentioned. Those records earnings had nothing to do with their downstream refineries, or their branded gasoline stations, it was entirely from the price of crude they were pumping out of the ground.

Meanwhile crack spreads (profit for downstream companies) can vary somewhat independently of high crude prices. During the extremely high crude prices there was actually periods of negative crack spreads, refiners lost money on every barrel they processed. Similarly spreads could go negative at low crude prices. There are weekly publications on crack spreads for various US regions (and the world).

Some conspiracy theories are more likely than others. It's not outlandish to believe profit seeking corporations would collude to increase profit. However, a little bit of investigation will show it's nearly impossible to believe that BP purposely sabotaged a near brand-new unit during a period of extremely high profit. In general the huge number of independent corporations that participate in the refining industry would protect against any kind of possible collusion.

Nobody suggested that BP sabotaged their platform if you're referring to the Macondo Prospect Deep Horizon blowout. That's a whole other set of problems.

I've seen locational monopoly in a Shell station more than 100 miles north of Bakersfield, or maybe 100 miles from anywhere -- to think of it. Prices could be above average by as much as $1. Once you got to the Buttonwillow rest-stop, there were three stations, all priced a little above what you'd find off the I-5.

But the industry can be both vertically-integrated and specialized -- companies that make drilling equipment, for instance. And there is no substitute for diesel or gasoline -- of any consequence at this point -- anyway.

There are other aspects to this I could discuss further, such as the long-standing status of oil as a "strategic mineral."

What has happened more recently involves a trend in CA with people driving less, or more mindful of their monthly fuel budget. Gas tax revenues intended for highway maintenance have declined considerably.

 

[dmcowen674]

The industry is quite complicated

Some conspiracy theories are more likely than others.

It's not outlandish to believe profit seeking corporations would collude to increase profit. However, a little bit of investigation will show it's nearly impossible to believe that BP purposely sabotaged a near brand-new unit during a period of extremely high profit. In general the huge number of independent corporations that participate in the refining industry would protect against any kind of possible collusion.

Oh please

No redundancy and they shut down twice a year for so called maintenance and still have issues like this. Come on.

It's rigged and Americans are the suckers.

It's 110% incompetence on purpose and they get rewarded for it with even higher profits for being purposely incompetent.

Like I've said many times, hell if I was in the Industry like a couple of blokes on here are even I would suck at my job like them on purpose for the higher profits and bonus.

 

[dmcowen674]

Woohoo gas dropped a whopping 3 cents today.

Let's see, up 70 cents in 2 days down 3 cents in 2 weeks.

Naw, no price gouging there.

 

[cabri]

Woohoo gas dropped a whopping 3 cents today.

Let's see, up 70 cents in 2 days down 3 cents in 2 weeks.

Naw, no price gouging there.

Supply system was choked by 1/3

Notice that prices rose by 1/3.

Did the price coming out of the refinery increase, or just within the distribution channel.

I have seen a minimum of 5 and up to 15 cents drop this week in Milwaukee area

 

[dmcowen674]

8-19-2015

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-steady-oversupply-concern-111903924.html

U.S. crude hits 6-1/2-year low at $40



Oil prices fell about 4 percent on Wednesday, with U.S. crude hitting 6-1/2 year lows and threatening to break below $40, after a huge unexpected stockpile build in the United States reinforced concerns about a growing global oil glut.


U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels last week to 456.21 million, the government's Energy Information Administration said.

The figures stunned energy market analysts on Wall Street, as well as traders and investors who had been expecting a stockpile drawdown despite the peak U.S. summer driving season nearing its end and refinery problems cutting fuel processing capabilities.

Oil has lost a third of its value since June on signs of creeping U.S. production amid record crude pumping in the Middle East.

 

[dmcowen674]

Massive amounts of oil yet many Americans still paying close to $3 a gallon.

The massive raping of Americans will never end.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Yet gas is cheaper than it's been for several years. Within the next 30 days many will have prices close to $2/gal.

http://fuelgaugereport.aaa.com/midwest-gas-prices-jump-due-to-new-refinery-problem/

 

[cabri]

Oil supplies does not equal refined gasoline.

 

[dmcowen674]

Based on the bevy of posts from the usual dolts I have on ignore they must still support the Oil Thug Industry especially the ones that work in the Industry here.

8-19-2015

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/08/19/soaring-gas-prices-raise-questions-about-price-gouging/

Skyrocketing gas prices – caused by a major outage at BP’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana – have drivers griping, and some calling for a price-gouging investigation.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, called the recent spike in prices at the pump one of the worst he’s ever seen.

Prices in the Midwest have soared after BP was forced to shut down one of the three crude distillation units at its refinery in Whiting last week. The refinery is one of the nation’s largest, and the outage has the plant running at less than half its capacity.

While pumping gas at a BP station where a gallon of regular was at $3.69, Dane said he’s “very, very, very skeptical” about the prices, and he thinks gas station owners are taking advantage of the situation to gouge customers. Prices have gone up as much as $1 per gallon at some stations since the refinery outage.

“You would think it was some catastrophe, or some explosion, or something,” he said. “Not only did it raise by about a dollar overnight, but it sustained it.”

Austin was griping as he filled up his cab on Wednesday. He also suspected price-gouging.

“They should bring it down to like $2.99. It’s too much. We’re trying to survive,” he said.

Officials in Michigan have called for an investigation into possible price gouging, as prices there also have soared.

BP has not released an official timeline for repairs to the damaged distillation unit, but published reports have stated it could take more than a month to fix the 240,000-barrel-per-day unit.

 

[cabri]

Based on the bevy of posts from the usual dolts I have on ignore they must still support the Oil Thug Industry especially the ones that work in the Industry here.

Still throwing around insults at people that dare challenge you.

And how would you know that they are posting unless you are reviewing or lying that they are on ignore.

One puts people on ignore when there is no interested in their posts; you thrive on being challenged and need confirmation of such.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

While pumping gas at a BP station where a gallon of regular was at $3.69, Dane said he’s “very, very, very skeptical” about the prices, and he thinks gas station owners are taking advantage of the situation to gouge customers. Prices have gone up as much as $1 per gallon at some stations since the refinery outage.

Bingo!!! It's the gas station owners and not big oil. If it was big oil the prices would be over $3.50/gal throughout the US.

 

[Pulsar]

Oh please

No redundancy and they shut down twice a year for so called maintenance and still have issues like this. Come on.

It's rigged and Americans are the suckers.

It's 110% incompetence on purpose and they get rewarded for it with even higher profits for being purposely incompetent.

Like I've said many times, hell if I was in the Industry like a couple of blokes on here are even I would suck at my job like them on purpose for the higher profits and bonus.

Awwwww. Our favorite computer-time stealing perpetual victim has returned. We didn't know what to do without you Dave. No one else even comes close to achieving the endless spew of stupidity that you manage, and no one has ever held a candle to the amount of entertainment you provide.

Like your redundancy statement. You seem to think that manufacturing facilities have extra machines and cracking towers just laying around unused. That's adorable. And you think that preventive maintenance means that regular maintenance and breakdowns don't happen. Your naivety is as cute as a baby kitten.

Keep it up Dave. We've missed you. We'll be counting the days till you manage to get yourself banned again, while we quietly wonder if you'll ever get help for the issues you have. Hugs and kisses.

 

[OutHouse]

Massive amounts of oil yet many Americans still paying close to $3 a gallon.

The massive raping of Americans will never end.

I spent last week in Naperville IL and gas was $3,20.

 

[OutHouse]

http://www.api.org/~/media/files/oi...oline/whats-up-with-gasoline-prices-hires.pdf

 

[cabri]

Bingo!!! It's the gas station owners and not big oil. If it was big oil the prices would be over $3.50/gal throughout the US.

And all owners in a 4-5 state area choose to raise the prices at the same instant by the same amount

I believe it is the distributers from the refinery that raised the prices 33% the moment they learned of the reduction in capacity.

 

[brianmanahan]

it's going down in ohio

i got it for like 2.65$ today

 

[Pulsar]

And all owners in a 4-5 state area choose to raise the prices at the same instant by the same amount

I believe it is the distributers from the refinery that raised the prices 33% the moment they learned of the reduction in capacity.

I demand you stop making sense immediately.

 

[Meghan54]

It's been languishing at $2.09 or so for a while here. NW SC.

 

[nickqt]

$2.09 in rural TN just a few days ago.

The end is near.

Rinse, repeat.

 

[dmcowen674]

it's going down in ohio

i got it for like 2.65$ today

Yeah, as soon as the word "investigation" is thrown out there it magically begins to fall without the Refinery being repaired.

Dropped 10 cents here today. Most around $2.87

 

[Dulanic]

it's going down in ohio

i got it for like 2.65$ today

Was still 3.30 this afternoon here. It hasn't really dropped since the $1 a gallon spike last week.

That's in IL and no not Chicago which always had bad prices, as does all of Cook County.

 

[CPA]

Drive for 5! Drive for 5! Drive for 5!

 

[Meghan54]

Drive for 5! Drive for 5! Drive for 5!

Maybe the rhetoric will be changed to Drive for 4! with Drive for 5! being focused on milk prices.