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Sour crude brings sweet profits
Sweet crude is the feedstock of choice for most refiners, because it is easier to process than sour crudes, which contain high levels of sulphur, metals and other impurities. But as supplies of sweet crude dwindle and its price continues to climb, refining complexes that can process sour grades have a strong competitive advantage, writes Anne Feltus. This is good news for Valero Energy, North America's largest refiner. About 70% of its combined throughput capacity – about 3.3m barrels a day (b/d) (see Table 1) – is for heavy, sour crude. Not surprisingly, the San Antonio, Texas-based enterprise is experiencing a bumper year. Not bad for a company that had an inauspicious start. Because of a natural gas shortage, LoVaca Gathering, the natural gas subsidiary of Coastal States Gas, had failed to honour contracts to supply hundreds of utilities around Texas. As a result, it spent six years in litigation before ...Click here to continue reading Sour crude brings sweet profits
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