March 30, 2021:

Niger suspended oil exports on Monday to help fulfil domestic demand, the country’s Soraz refinery operator said in a letter, as it waited for a replacement for a broken part that has halted production. The Soraz facility, a joint venture between the government and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), has a production capacity of 20,000 barrels per day.

By Reuters

March 30, 2021:

Spanish oil refiner Petronor, majority-owned by Repsol, has proposed a furlough scheme for one third of its 900 employees in response to a sharp fall in fuel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The facility in Bilbao, northern Spain, has been processing crude at 60% capacity for 271 days, the company said on Monday, during which time it offered training to keep employees active. Unable to keep this up, the company said it would now start negotiations with labour representatives to decide on temporary layoffs until the end of 2021. “The current uncertainty about a return to mobility, primarily depending on the vaccination process, makes it impossible to predict when the refinery can go back to functioning normally,” the statement said. Petronor said it thought the situation was temporary and it was continuing to work towards a future in the low-carbon energy industry. The refinery has capacity to process 220,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

By Reuters

March 30, 2021:

Indonesian state oil firm Pertamina said on Tuesday it was still trying to fully extinguish a fire that broke out at its Balongan refinery a day before, injuring six people and prompting the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents. Pertamina chief executive Nicke Widyawati said late on Monday the fire had been contained to a small area, and she was optimistic it could be put out soon. "Yesterday we carried out an isolated fire control, (and) now we are taking an offensive effort to further extinguish the fires," Ifki Sukarya, a Pertamina spokesman, said on Tuesday.  About 950 people left their homes due to the fire and a resulting explosion at the plant on Java island on Monday, though some had started to return, according to the company. Videos shared on social media showed huge flames engulfing part of the 125,000 barrel per day facility, while a large explosion can be heard.

Pertamina expects operations to be restored in four to five days as damage was limited to the storage area of the West Java refinery and did not affect its oil processing area, company officials said on Monday. Nicke said in a statement late on Monday that only 7% of the 1.35 million kilo litres (KL) of storage capacity at Balongan was affected by the fire. The company estimated the storage tanks on fire were only holding around 23,000 KL of gasoline prior to the blaze. Pertamina said there were no fatalities caused by the fire, but local media said one resident had died from a heart attack suspected to be due to the shock of the explosion. The state company said national fuel stocks remained secure despite the fire and any shortage of fuel supply to Jakarta, which Balongan serves, will be replaced by refineries in Cilacap and Tuban.

West Java police are waiting for the fire to be put out before starting an investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

By Bankok Post

March 29, 2021:

More than 900 people from a nearby village were evacuated after a massive fire broke out early Monday at the Pertamina Balongan Refinery in Indonesia’s West Java province, officials said. About 20 people were injured, including refinery workers and several villagers who suffered burns while passing through the area, the local disaster mitigation agency said. Nicke Widyawati, chief executive officer of state-owned oil and gas corporation Pertamina, said firefighters were still battling the blaze and attempting to cool down the area to prevent it from spreading. The cause of the fire was still being investigated, she said at a news conference. Pertamina officials said there was lightning and heavy rain at the time the fire broke out. Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. analyzed by The Associated Press showed a massive plume of black smoke rising from the refinery over the nearby village. The fire appeared localized at a set of four tanks in the middle of the refinery.

The Balongan plant has a refining capacity of about 125,000 barrels of crude oil a day. It supplies fuel to Jakarta, Banten and some regions of West Java. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said 912 residents were staying at three evacuation centers.

By www.starexponent.com

March 29, 2021:

US. gasoline prices have been rising since reaching a multiyear low of $1.77 per gallon in late April 2020 because of higher crude oil prices and higher wholesale gasoline margins, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Meanwhile, China refined more crude oil than the United States for the first time in April 2020. The EIA’s Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update shows U.S. regular retail gasoline prices were an average of $2.85 per gallon as of Monday (March 29). Before the small decline this week, the gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive weeks, the longest streak of price increases since 1994. Gasoline prices in the United States are affected by crude oil prices, refining costs, retail distribution and marketing costs, and taxes. The price changes are typically a result of changes in crude oil prices and refining costs because gasoline taxes and retail distribution costs have been stable. International benchmark Brent crude oil prices rose to an average of $67 per barrel in March, from $43 per barrel in November. The price of petroleum products changes by 2.4 cents per gallon when the price of crude oil changes by a dollar per barrel with all else remaining equal. Each barrel contains 42 gallons.

Refining margins have been rising also. The margins are the difference between refiners’ acquisition cost of crude oil and wholesale gasoline prices. U.S. average wholesale gasoline margins rose to 33 cents per gallon in February, from 18 cents per gallon in November. Though refining margins are up, refineries in China processed more crude oil than U.S. refiners for the first month on record in April 2020, according to the EIA. The trend continued throughout 2020, except for July and August. China processed more crude oil than the United States because of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and because of differences in the longer-term structural refining trends between the two countries. Crude oil processing in China also exceeded U.S. gross inputs in May and October 2020. Gross inputs into distillation units include non-crude liquids such as lease condensate and unfinished oils. As a result, gross inputs are about 0.5 million barrels per day larger than net crude oil inputs.

The pandemic contributed to lower demand for petroleum products such as gasoline, distillate and jet fuel. Net inputs of crude oil to U.S. refiners fell in April while crude oil processing in China started to rise above previous levels following a demand increase when COVID cases declined in that country. Refinery runs in China also started to rise in April 2020 because the country implemented a policy in 2016 that encourages refiners to refine more petroleum products by fixing product prices at $40 when the Brent crude oil price falls to less than $40 per barrel. The Brent crude oil price fell and remained less than $40 per barrel between March and May 2020. China processed a record 14.1 million barrels per day of crude oil in June and 14.5 million barrels per day in November. U.S. refinery runs have yet to return to March 2020 levels because of demand reductions and hurricanes in the fall that disrupted refinery processes. Some refineries came back online in late 2020, but refinery runs remained lower than historical averages in 2020.

By www.mooresvilletribune.com