The Houston, Texas, facility which is operated by LyondellBasell Industries, spans 700 acres and was built in 1918 is scheduled to permanently close by the end of 2023, but could shut down earlier if a major equipment failure spreads to major units, two people familiar with the issues told Reuters. Louisiana's 17 oil refineries account for nearly one-fifth of the nation's refining capacity, with the ability to process about 3.4 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the . It's no surprise that this is raising eyebrows, given the president's stated goals on an energy transition and also his promise to voters on the campaign trail that he would "end fossil fuels.". Some of these refineries that shut down in 2020 "will become terminals, some of them will become renewable diesel or biofuel plants," Israel added. Total gasoline inventories in the United States have been slowly building over the last few weeks, ending at 250 million barrels as of January 28, before the storm. It had been $5.64 last week. In Pursuit Of Higher Value, Big Oil Isnt Losing Any Sleep Over The EV Revolution, Mining Majors Are Treading Carefully As Battery Metals Boom. Crude oil production stopped and was permanently shut down in 2017. EMBED <> More Videos LyondellBasell plans to shut down its Houston refinery at the end of 2023, impacting 550 jobs. Trading and investing carries a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research at Bank of America, points out that the country is still heavily reliant on gasoline despite those goals. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images By Daily Report Staff (iStock) Even as oil and gas companies' profits soar, refineries across the country. Read the full story at theDaily Caller News Foundation. In other words, governments and/or the green agenda are the primary reason for the expensive gas. Even as oil and gas companies profits soar, refineries across the country are being retired and converted to other uses as owners balk. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. The drop in capacity was driven by a 13% drop in gasoline consumption, and prices for gasoline and diesel hit a four year low. The president earlier this month singled out ExxonMobil, saying the company "made more money than God this year.". They definitely cannot talk to each other about their production time. 'Massive' violations in Ukraine a focus as UN human rights body meets, Court rules New York law violates family planning centers rights, SUZANNE DOWNING: Biden Is Throwing Americans Retirement Savings To The Wolves. Four concurrent production shutdowns in California is unfortunate timing, but its impossible for refineries to schedule maintenance around each other, said Severin Borenstein, a UC Berkeley energy economist. In Australia, the collapse of the oil refining industry has resulted in their now being just two refineries in the country, after Exxon Mobil closed the 86,000 bpd Altona refinery in February, following on from BP closing the Kwinana refinery in November of last year, and converting it into a fuel import terminal. Copyright 2023 Separo. Calcasieu Refining shut its Lake Charles plant in early August of 2020, according to the Louisiana Department on Environmental Quality, citing demand loss during the pandemic. We, Yahoo, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. Previously worked at Euromoney Institutional Investor and CNN. "My personal view is there will never be another refinery built in the United States," Wirth said. Five refineries have shut down in the past two years, reducing the nation's refining capacity by about 5% and eliminating more than 1 million barrels of fuel per day from the market, leaving the remaining facilities straining to meet demand. Both have been shut down. Patrick De Haan, Gas Buddys head of petroleum analysis, said in a statement that prices in the impacted areas could go up another 25 to 75 cents before the issues are resolved. Covid and oil demand took divergent directions in mid-2020. When you have a power issue, that can sometimes be really difficult to operate around, he said. There are examples of this approach from across Europe: Total is planning to convert the Grandpuits refinery in France which has been temporarily shut down since February this year into a biofuels and plastics recycling complex. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. I recently noted that LyondellBasell Reports on oil and energy, including refineries, markets and renewable fuels. The President might believe that a heavy-handed action to implement price controls or other actions could offer him some short-term political advantage leading up to the November elections, but in the mid-to-long-term it would only result in less availability of the products being controlled. The refinery has since been bulldozed. U.S. refineries are already going gangbusters right now. According to our annual Refinery Capacity Report, 2021 was the second consecutive year of decreasing refinery capacity. Gasoline Prices 26 Cents Lower Than Last Year, Russias Lukoil Looks To Sell Stake In Offshore Oil And Gas Field, Kazakhstan Could Suspend Natural Gas Exports Next Winter, Kazakh Oil Starts Flowing To Germany Via Russian Pipeline Network, Saudi Arabia Signs $400 Million Aid Package For Ukraine, Chinas Coal Plant Approvals Surged To A 7-Year High In 2022, Iranian Currency Drops To Record Low Against The U.S. Dollar, Oil Prices Dip As Traders Wait For Chinese Demand To Rebound, Academics: Russia Selling Oil Way Over Price Cap, Ecuador Calls Force Majeure On Almost All Of Its Oil Production, BOEM To Hold Oil, Gas Lease Sale On March 29, The U.S. Intensifies Sanctions Against Russia, U.S. (LogOut/ The Houston, Texas, facility which is operated by LyondellBasell Industries, spans 700 acres and was built in 1918 is . By clicking Accept all you agree that Yahoo and our partners will process your personal information, and use technologies such as cookies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights, and product development. De Haan added that one wild card could be Hurricane Ian, which, as of Monday, was approaching the Gulf Coast. Things are fine everywhere else, right?. Most of the refinery closures occurred in western countries, the data showed. Exacerbating these high gas prices is a huge shortage in refining capacity in the U.S., which isn't likely to be resolved any time soon. The Golden State is bearing the brunt of these shutdowns, which are triggering a steep uptick in the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded fuel. By Mike Lee | 06/16/2022 07:17 AM EDT Those, however, are specific to the West Coast and gas prices across the rest of the country are in better shape. 2022 Welcome: Official Visitors Guide to Greater Baton Rouge. The average retail price of gasoline increased 51% in Colorado and 27% in the Rocky Mountain region between the end of December and Feb. 20, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration . LYONDELLBASELL HOUSTON: CAPACITY: 263,776 barrel-per-day (bpd) Register for free to Reuters and know the full story Lyondell said in April of 2022 that it would permanently shut the. Staples says that if the federal land ban continues, Texas is set to lose 120,000 jobs and $65 million in revenue by 2022. Slectionnez Grer les paramtres pour grer vos prfrences. Indeed, Galp halted operations at the Matosinhos oil refinery complex in Portugal from early 2021, citing a 16% drop in throughput in the fourth quarter of 2020. Any trading and execution of orders mentioned on this website is carried out by and through OPCMarkets. Image Drilling for oil . President Biden and Big Oil are at each other's throats. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA . In a recent interview with Fox Business, American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers stated that 11 US gas refineries closed over the past two years. Strikes Back At EU Criticism Of The Inflation Reduction Act, China Secures Two Long-Term LNG Deals With U.S. Producer, Oil Gains Over 2% As Gasoline Stocks Show Second Weekly Decline, Russia Says Europe Will Struggle To Replace Its Oil Products, "Natural Gas Price Fundamental Daily Forecast Grinding Toward Summer Highs Despite Huge Short Interest" by James Hyerczyk & REUTERS on NatGas, 'Get A Loan,' Commerce Chief Tells Unpaid Federal Workers, Shell Considered Relocating To The U.S. The evidence for the impact of the pandemic on the sector is widespread and undeniable. . When the pandemic hit and demand for oil evaporated during the recession, refineries took a big financial hit when the price of gasoline plummeted. And that's when you shut down refineries," says Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. This would be the latest step in wider moves to shift the company as a whole onto a more environmentally sustainable footing, with two other refineries in Italy already having undergone a similar conversion. Of course, high demand combined with high prices has led oil companies to make big profits. "The Houston Refinery is currently. Could Gravity Batteries Win The Energy Storage War? Biden spoke at the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. var write_html = `