MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp, the second largest U.S. crude oil refiner, plans to operate its 14 refineries up to 89% of their combined total throughput capacity of 3.15 million barrels per day (bpd) during the second quarter of 2021, a company executive said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Valero’s U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are planned to operate up 92% of their combined total throughput of 1.86 million bpd, said Homer Bhullar, vice president of investor relations, during a Thursday conference call to discuss first quarter earnings with Wall Street analysts.
The company’s Mid-Continent refineries in Tennessee and Oklahoma were forecast to produce up to 93% of their combined total capacity of 485,000 bpd while refineries in Quebec and Wales supplying North Atlantic markets will run up to 71% of their 505,000-bpd capacity, Bhullar said. Valero plans for its two West Coast refineries to operate at 89% of their capacity of 305,000 bpd, he said.
The company’s refineries in the U.S. Mid-West and Gulf Coast sustained “no significant mechanical damage” from the winter storm that started on Feb. 14, said Chief Executive Joe Gorder. “Although our refineries and plants in those regions were also impacted, they did not suffer any significant mechanical damage and were restarted within a short period after the storm,” Gorder said.
The company plans no further asset sales after completing a deal on Monday to sell a partial interest in a Pasadena, Texas, petroleum terminal, he said. Valero’s production is approaching levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic cut motor fuel demand, said Lane Riggs, chief operating officer.
“We’re running in utilization rates that were more indicative of pre-COVID levels, but they’re not completely -- we’re not completely running at max because we are still being very careful with our supply chain,” Riggs said.
As per MRC, Valero Energy Corp posted a larger quarterly loss as a winter storm hit its operations in February, but its top boss shrugged off the rare event to focus on rising fuel demand and fatter refining margins. A cold snap in Texas earlier this year disrupted energy supply and sent numerous refineries offline, prompting profit warnings from companies including Exxon Mobil and Phillips 66. But the storm-related disruptions also boosted fuel prices and in turn, margins for refiners, with Valero's Q1 refining margin surging 33% sequentially to USD1.45 billion.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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