Posted on 04/12/2008 1:23:09 AM PDT by Exton1
Energy Policy: When America's biggest oil refiner contemplates putting almost a third of its refineries on the market, Congress should sit up and take notice.
Valero will probably sell three of its 17 refineries this year and maybe two more later to focus on its core operations amid what CEO Bill Klesse acknowledged on Tuesday is a weak economy.
Downstream, refiners are hit by not only high energy prices, but also bureaucratic regulations, environmental lobbies and special interests that make moving to Asia, where economic growth is still valued, more attractive.
Mandates requiring certain ethanol percentages in gasoline composition are chopping down refiners' market share at the pump.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
That would make the E85 more expensive than gasoline per mile driven.
ping
Sorry IMO his statement makes NO sense - “refining” and then selling gasoline, and related products” is it's core operation and business..... if they indent to keep selling gasoline then someone has to product it.
The US is already short 3 million barrels per day in actual refining capacity - versus US daily consumption - so we are already having to import refined gasoline from overseas locations!!!
I guess what he is saying is that they intend to let the Arabs and others also refine it, and then just sell it thru Valero’s pumps...??
No, it was 200 to 400 billion barrels in place.
His work was included in a USGS report released the year after his death, 2001.
Diagenesis and Fracture Development in the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin: Implications for Reservoir Quality in the Middle Member
http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1653/p1653.pdf
U.S. Geological Survey Professional
By Janet K. Pitman, Leigh C. Price, and Julie A. LeFever
First printing November 2001
Technically recoverable oil is a lot less.
Report says up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil in Bakken shale
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999840/posts
ANWR is expected to have techically recoverable oil up to 16 billion barrels, a mean of 10.4 billion.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 1002 Area,
Petroleum Assessment, 1998, Including Economic Analysis
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0028-01/fs-0028-01.pdf
One of the refineries Valero is discussing selling is not in the US but in Aruba.
Valero Plans to Sell Aruba Refinery in Second Quarter (Update2)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=akkyr7QbxPrU&refer=news
Also on the list is Krotz Springs, Louisiana. This is their smallest refinery and was included in their purchase of Basis Petroleum from Salomon in 1997.
Admore, Oklahoma with their second smallest refinery is being considered; it was built in 1913 originally but with many upgrades since.
Memphis was listed, that one is a less obvious choice for me.
Also in the article above:
The company plans to bankroll improvements at its most complex plants by selling off its least desirable assets. Valero sold its 120-year-old refinery in Lima, Ohio, for $1.9 billion in July 2007.
Klesse also said Valero has no plans to invest in the Krotz Springs and Memphis plants. Memphis needs a new fluid catalytic cracker because the unit must be shut for repairs every 18 months instead of the four-to-five-year timeframe Valero considers normal, he said. Crackers are a refinery’s primary gasoline-processing unit.
WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE COMMUNISTS WHO CONTROL EPA.
You are absolutely right. Right now we have elected royals who have been bought off by unions and foreign oil countries. Their pocket money is more important than this country. We really don’t have big problems in this country until our elected royals get their grubby hands into something.
You are absolutely right. Right now we have elected royals who have been bought off by unions and foreign oil countries. Their pocket money is more important than this country. We really don’t have big problems in this country until our elected royals get their grubby hands into something.
Sorry for the double post.
Agreed - in fact the Aruba refinery is already “sold” to Pertobras - and all Valero plant improvements have stopped.
IMO the “IBD” article was spun to some degree to make it seem as if the refinery business as a whoe was suddenly headed back into the dumpster - as you note Valero is just wanting to free up some cash after having made some “bad” or poor purchasing decisions on their way to becoming the largest indepenent refiner in the US
That part is not entirely true. We have some Valero refinery work completing engineering at my company.
You and others might find this list interesting:
U.S. refinery expansion plans (Valero, Holly, Frontier)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1140699420080311
ping for list above
Thanx, Thack! LOL
I always appreciate the “barrel of sanity” that you bring to these energy threads!
Out local North Pole refinery has changed hands so many times we hardly notice anymore.
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