Mid-Year Outlook: Refiners Prep for Heavy Demand, Eye Renewable Diesel
Attachment: Outlook-PetRef-Ranges 0522, Outlook-PetRef-ShutRefin 0522
May 24, 2022--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. and Canadian Petroleum Refining Industry is learning that obstacles can be turned into opportunities. Hillary Stevenson, an oil market expert and correspondent for IIR Energy, told attendees at Industrial Info's U.S. & Canada Industrial Market Outlook event last week that refiners still want to maximize profits by making high-margin gasoline in the short term. But renewable diesel and other newer products are likely to see demand soar in the coming years--and could offer a new life to refineries that have closed their doors since the start of the pandemic.
To date, 2022 has seen a strong demand for refined products, in part due to voluntary or enforced sanctions against Russian crude. But Stevenson warned that it would be a long time before refiners returned to the utilization levels seen in 2018 and 2019, since many refineries closed amid the demand destruction stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
For all the uncertainty facing the refining market, Stevenson said one thing is abundantly clear: Maintenance is back. And refineries that have been closed over the past few years may not be dead after all: Many are being repurposed to handle renewable diesel.
Companies featured: Marathon Petroleum Corporation's (NYSE:MPC)
