Breaking news-Big cat cracker prob and NYMEX gasoline up 4 cents!

I can't find a news story yet but NYMEX gasoline is screaming again. Forget about OPEC. Gasoline is gonna pull the whole oil complex higher this Spring.

I heard Hess St Croix has their big 130,000 bl/day cat cracker down on unspecified probs. This refinery and the the Venz account for nearly all our gasoline imports. So a tight market just got tighter and its only March 1. Get set for some springtime gasoline fireworks and double digit gas cracks.

That gasoline stuff is gonna be smoking!

PHO Unregistered User (3/1/00 11:21:22 am) Reply Hess Shuts St. Croix Catalytic Cracker

Refinery Update: Hess Shuts St. Croix Catalytic Cracker

Princeton, New Jersey, March 1 (Bloomberg Energy)-- The following refinery is confirmed to be undergoing unplanned maintenance. Company: Amerada Hess Corp. Location: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands Unit Type: Catalytic Cracker Capacity: 135-140,000 barrels a day Output: 0 barrels a day Event: The unit was shut today for inspection and emergency repair. The unit is expected to be down for several days. Source: Company Official Company Confirmation: Yes

-- David Holladay (davidh@brailleplanet.org), March 01, 2000

Answers

Opps! forgot to mention that I just grabbed a post from:

http://pub3.ezboard.com/fdownstreamventurespetroleummarkets.html

I need to credit the source

-- David Holladay (davidh@brailleplanet.org), March 01, 2000.

Wednesday March 1, 3:28 pm Eastern Time (Note: this article is ``in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.)

NYMEX oil ends at new 9-yr high as gasoline surges

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) soared to fresh nine-year highs near the close Wednesday, supported by bullish gasoline futures and as the latest weekly data showed U.S. oil supplies remained at low levels, traders said.

After striking another fresh post Gulf War high high of $31.80 a barrel, a whopping gain of $1.37 a barrel, April crude firmed at just a few cents below that peak. At the close, it last traded at $31.70, up $1.27.

Those prices are the highest since Jan. 16, 1991, when NYMEX crude rose to $32.75.

April gasoline futures, on their first day as front month contract, continued to nudge near $1.00 a gallon and set yet another fresh contract high of 99.50 cents a gallon, up 5.50 cents. It last traded at 99.35 cents, up 5.35 cents, the highest price since October 1990 when it hit $1.00 in the market rally after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August that year.

April heating oil moved at gasoline's behest, posting a fresh contract high of 79.95 cents a gallon, up 3.50 cents. It last traded at 79.40 cents, up 2.95 cents.

In London, April Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange last traded at $29.06 a barrel, up 97 cents, setting another post Gulf War high.

News that Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico, the chief architects of producers' output cuts, would propose an increase in production of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) beginning April did not dampen buying interest, traders said.

The proposed increase, if it materializes, would be too small to balance the extremely tight market, they said.

For the U.S., the extra barrels may come too late for refiners to ramp up production in time to meet gasoline demand during the onset of the summer driving season, which traditionally starts in the last week of May during the Memorial Day holiday, they added.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000301/8h.html

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), March 01, 2000.

That's a countless total of refineries that have crashed and/or burned. I believe that whoever made predictions that the refineries were going to have problems have now and officially been vindicated. They can stand up and take a bow for their prognosticating acuity.

Anything in the media? Nope. Our media is as worthless as our politicians.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), March 01, 2000.

David,

Good post. Thank you.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), March 01, 2000.

Not good news.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), March 01, 2000.

Is anyone keeping a list of the refineries that have crashed/burned since rollover?

-- Freedom (freedom2k@yahoo.com), March 01, 2000.

The 400,000+ bpd refinery at BP Amoco in Whiting Indiana had a fire in the gasoline area today. No news yet as to possible impact.

-- trafficjam (road@construction.ahead), March 01, 2000.

trafficjam,
I'm fine.(grin)

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), March 01, 2000.