An oil refinery is a manufacturing facility that uses crude oil and other feedstocks as a
raw material and produces a variety of refined products. The actual mix of refined products
from a particular refinery varies according to the refinery's processing units, the specific refining process used,
and the nature of the feedstocks.
Refinery processing units generally perform one of three functions:
Separation of the different types of hydrocarbons contained in the feedstocks.
Conversion of separated hydrocarbons into more desirable or higher value products.
Chemical treatment of the products to remove unwanted elements and contaminants such as sulphur, nitrogen and metals.
Refined products include propane and butane, gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, furnace oil,
heavy fuel oil, and lube stock.
Refining is primarily a margin based business in which feedstocks and refined products
are commodities. Both crude oil and refined products in each regional market react to a
different set of supply/demand and transportation pressures and refiners must balance a
number of competing factors in deciding what type of crude oil to process, what kind of
equipment to invest in, and what range of products to manufacture.
As most refinery operating costs are relatively fixed, the goal is to maximize the
production of high value refined products and minimize crude oil feedstock costs. The
value and yield of refined products are a function of the refinery equipment and the
characteristics of the crude oil feedstock, while the cost of feedstock depends on the
type of crude oil. The refining industry depends on its ability to earn an acceptable
rate of return in its marketplace where prices are set by international as well as local
markets. Over the long term, refining margins and crude oil prices are typically
correlated as both are driven by the demand for refined petroleum products.
Until recently, global investment in refining capacity has been restrained as weak
refining margins have not supported investment in either capacity increases at existing
refineries or the construction of new refineries. From the early 1980's through the early 1990's,
global refining capacity fell as uneconomic refineries were shut down in the face of low
margins. Since then, global refining capacity has grown, predominantly through capacity
creep.
Refining Margins
Refining margins or ‘crack spreads’ are terms used to describe a benchmark indication
of the margins made by refiners. A common refining crack spread is called the 2:1:1,
which mirrors the gross margin that would be realized by a refiner if they purchased
two barrels of light, sweet crude oil (based on the benchmark West Texas Intermediate
or WTI) as feedstock, and produced one barrel of gasoline and one barrel of diesel.
Since sour crude oil traditionally sells at a discount to WTI, the margin for sour
refiners tends to be more favorable and is called a "sour crack spread".
Examples of a 2:1:1 crack spread and a sour 2:1:1 crack spread are below, assuming a
WTI oil price of US$90/barrel, a gasoline price of US$99 per barrel and a diesel price
of US$114 per barrel.
1 barrel of WTI crude oil purchased for $90/barrel
($90.00)
50% of one barrel of gasoline produced & sold for $99
$49.50
50% of one barrel of distillate produced & sold for $104
$52.00
Equals 2:1:1 crack spread
$11.50
North Atlantic is a sour refinery, so our feedstock costs are different from the 2:1:1,
and our margins include more products than a 2:1:1 crack spread contemplates. Each barrel
of sour crude oil that we process is refined into three different products, weighted
approximately as follows: 32% gasoline, 41% diesel and 27% heavy fuel oil (which trades
at a discount to WTI).
