NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–ConocoPhillips (COP) said an isolated fire that broke out at its Wood River refinery in Roxana, Ill., Thursday morning was safely extinguished and resulted in no injuries.
| The refinery’s fire crew quickly responded to the fire that broke out at a sulfur-treatment unit early Thursday morning, said Conoco spokesman William Stephens in an email. “The refinery remains in operation with the exception of the unit experiencing the fire.” The fire did not result in any offsite impact, he added. |
| Roxana’s police and fire departments said they did not receive calls for this fire as of 9 a.m. EDT. |
| The S-Zorb unit where the blaze erupted is used to strip sulfur out of naphtha, a key gasoline component, to meet ultra low sulfur fuel specifications. Conoco licenses its S-Zorb technology to other refineries. The unit “is currently being examined,” Stephens said. He declined to comment on whether the refinery’s operations would be impacted by this incident per company policy. |
| The 306,000-barrel-a-day Wood River refinery is the largest operated by Conoco in the U.S. It is a joint venture between the integrated oil giant and EnCana Corp. (ECA, ECA.T), according to the plant’s Web site. The refinery is currently undergoing an expansion project that will allow it to process heavy crude oil from Canada in greater volumes. Wood River currently refines oil from the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Middle East and Canada. |
Current estimate for natural gas storge is +70 BCF vs. the five-year average of +68 BCF
The API reported yesterday that for the week ending April 23 crude oil stocks rose by 5.344 million barrels off a revised base for the previous week. Refinery crude oil runs eased by 70 MB/D to 14.97 MMB/D while gross imports fell by 456 MB/D to 9.439 MMB/D. Attempting to reconcile the data with estimated domestic production suggests that crude oil stocks “should have” declined modestly, however, and we do not believe the DOE will report such a large build later this morning. The API also reported that primary gasoline inventories fell by 658,000 barrels to 219.413 million barrels. Refinery output of finished mogas dropped by 196 MB/D to 8.983 MMB/D, while gross imports of total gasoline rose by 280 MB/D to 826 MB/D. The numbers suggest implied gasoline demand averaging 9.9 MMB/D, too robust for the time being, and we would expect the DOE to report a modest build in supplies. Finally, the API reported a distillate stock draw of 1.369 million barrels to 145.511 million barrels. Refinery output declined by 68 MB/D to average 3.924 MMB/D while gross imports rose by 30 MB/D to 197 MB/D. The API reported that implied distillate demand averaged 3.811 MMB/D, which under our estimate of exports makes sense, taking the other API distillate variables at face value. As previously discussed, we need to see implied distillate demand on a DOE basis recover to at least 3.7 MMB/D to confirm that the U.S. economy is not slowing down from March’s performance.
Hornsby Trading News
- Platts Energy Inventory Survey Plus Hornsby & Company Inventory Assessment – February 7th.
- US NATURAL GAS INVENTORY SURVEY: Draw Of 126 Bcf Expected – Dow Jones
- Weekly DOE Inventory Report – February 1st.
- API Inventory Report – January 31st.
- Platts Energy Inventory Survey Plus Hornsby & Company Inventory Assessment – January 31st.