PODCAST: Hurricane Brief – Base oils, mixed xylenes in the wake of refinery production cuts

HOUSTON (ICIS)—In episode three of the ICIS podcast series Hurricane Brief, market experts Alex Snodgrass, Adam Burkin, and Amanda Hay discuss this overly active Atlantic hurricane season and its impact on chemicals.

Concerns about further threats to gasoline production in the US Gulf Coast (USGC) region linger amid this year’s particularly heavy Atlantic hurricane season as we head into the winter driving period, a low demand season for gasoline.

Meanwhile, US base oil markets continue to face tight supply and higher prices as Excel Paralubes’ Group II plant remains off line.

Excel Paralubes remains offline, representing 15% of US Group II virgin base oil refining capacity, according to the ICIS Supply and Demand database.

Operator Phillips 66 anticipates that reliable power, the key roadblock to restarting, will be restored by early October. The company said its Lake Charles, Louisiana, manufacturing complex could be fully operational two weeks after that.

Refiners have preferred to keep n-grade toluene and MX in the gasoline pool, instead of extracting them for the chemical market, though this will change in the near term as refiners switch to winter gasoline blends.

CITGO intends to restart its Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery by mid-to-late October at the earliest, according to a company statement.

Listen to this podcast interview by Anna Matherne and Alex Snodgrass