A Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) release—which basically involves making additional barrels of crude oil available for sale to the world market—is meant to increase global supply. Meeting today’s demand with more supply is a recipe for lower prices. The United States released millions of barrels from our SPR in the past several months, as did many other countries.
Russian crude oil accounts for just three percent of U.S. crude oil imports and about one percent of total crude oil processed by U.S. refineries. Even still, Russian crude oil imports are important to refineries on the West Coast and Gulf Coast for some distinct reasons. Read more on this topic from AFPM’s industry analysts in their recent assessment: “U.S. Imports of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products from Russia.”
All eyes are on Hurricane Ian, which is expected to approach Florida’s west coast later Wednesday and into Thursday bringing high winds and massive amounts of rain. Although our nation’s refiners and petrochemical manufacturers do not have facilities in the affected region, we’d like to urge the people in the area to prepare for the storm and heed all evacuation notices. Florida residents can get critical preparedness and evacuation information here.
“Our country has seen time and again that major storms and often-correlated runs on gas stations can have a swift impact on prices. Already in Florida, some key areas are functioning with roughly 20 percent of retail stations either out of gas or out of power. That means there is less supply overall and some temporary inability to access supplies in certain Florida communities where there is, at present, heightened local demand. The market is resilient and will work to fix this imbalance swiftly, but a return to normalcy will likely not be immediate as the supply chain is complex and buyers will need to return to their normal purchasing habits."
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and American Petroleum Institute (API) today released the following statement after a meeting that included Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, senior White House officials and leaders of the top U.S. refining companies
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President and CEO Chet Thompson and American Petroleum Institute (API) President and CEO Mike Sommers today sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm raising significant concerns that the administration could pursue a ban or limits on refined petroleum products. “Banning or limiting the export of refined products would likely decrease inventory levels, reduce domestic refining capacity, put upward pressure on consumer fuel prices, and alienate U.S. allies during a time of war,” Thompson and Sommers wrote.
AFPM opposes the Inflation Reduction Act as written. We evaluated the bill against our core principles, specifically whether the legislation would support strong U.S. refining and petrochemical industries and whether it pursued emissions reductions in a market-based and cost-effective manner. Unfortunately, the IRA falls short of these goals.
Thursday, August 18, AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson sent a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) making...
Because of the extensive safety and mitigation steps refiners take wherever hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation is concerned, the risks from this process pale in comparison to those we assume every day when we engage in routine activities like riding a bike, driving a car and playing with pets.
SPR releases cannot be the center of this Administration’s strategy to confront inflation and high energy prices. At best, SPR releases are a short-term fix, they are not a solution. Stability and certainty is what global crude oil markets crave.
