Oil Refiners

Petroleum refineries convert crude oil into many petroleum products. Most refineries focus on producing transportation fuels -- gasoline, jet and ship fuel, etc.

On average, U.S. refineries produce, from a 42-gallon barrel of crude oil, about 20 to 19 gallons of motor gasoline, 12 gallons of distillate fuel distillate fuel, most of which is sold as diesel fuel, and 4 gallons of jet fuel.

There are more than 600 refineries operating globally.  The 3 largest ones: Jamnagar Refinery (Reliance Industries) in India;  Paraguana Refinery Complex (PDVSA) in Venezuela; SK Energy Ulsan Refinery (SK Energy) in South Korea.



(by market cap)
   Ticker  Company name Mkt Cap▼
PXE  -- Refinery-heavy ETF

• PSX      Phillips 66       57.36B
• VLO     Valero Energy  49.98B
• MPC     Marathon Petroleum 36.81B
• ANDV Andeavor 21.26B  (* acquired by Marathon Petroleum (MPC) in 4/18)  
• HFC  HollyFrontier 11.94B
• UGP  Ultrapar Participacoes S.A. (Brazil) 9.41B
• SHI  Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical (China) 9.11B
• PSXP  Phillips 66 Partners 6.12B
• PBF   PBF Energy  4.52B
• VVV   Valvoline Inc.  4.18B
• DK    Delek US Holdings  3.99B
• CVI   CVR Energy   3.46B
• CVRR  CVR Refining, LP 2.78B
• SUN   Sunoco LP   2.72B
• INT   World Fuel Services 1.54B
• NGL   NGL Energy Partners LP 1.40B
• PARR  Par Pacific Holdings  798.29M
• CAPL  CrossAmerica Partners LP   616.25M
• CLMT  Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P.  550.08M
• REGI  Renewable Energy Group, Inc.  538.04M
• BPT   BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust  530.72M
• SRLP  Sprague Resources LP  520.71M
• FGP   Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.  349.33M
• AE    Adams Resources & Energy  197.17M
• PEIX  Pacific Ethanol, Inc.   157.38M

(day's change) (change from open) (by vol)  https://finviz.com/screener.ashx?v=211&ta=0&o=-volume&t=PXE,PSX,VLO,MPC,ANDV,HFC,UGP,SHI,PSXP,PBF,VVV,DK,CVI,CVRR,SUN,INT,NGL,PARR,CAPL,CLMT,REGI,BPT,SRLP,FGP,AE,PEIX,

Charts by ave daily vol // click for live daily chart

                 

(*)  Andeavor (ANDV), formerly Tesoro, it changed its name in 2017, after it bought Western Refining for $6.4 billion. In 2017, Andeavor generated 45% of its Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, from refining; 26% from marketing, or selling fuel, Twinkies, and more via 3,250 service stations under banners like Arco, Shell and Mobil; and 29% through majority ownership of Andeavor Logistics (ANDX), a limited partnership with pipelines, terminals, and other assets.

ExxonMobil oil refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (the fourth-largest in the United States) 

©Artremis / last update JKM 12-May-18

Look for Pullbacks in Pumped-Up Oil Refiners

(Barron's; 11 Feb 2013) While shares of oil refiners have been outpacing the broad market since 2010, many of them have been really pumped up since last May. While the stocks now are technically overbought for the near term, long-term chart trends remain positive. That suggests an opportunity is coming to buy a price dip.

For example, HollyFrontier (ticker: HFC) moved higher in a relatively tame rising trend after breaking out last June (see Chart 1). Chart watchers will point out that prices advanced within the confines of a rising trend channel, which is simply a rising trendline drawn through price lows and a parallel line drawn through price highs.

Trend channels can indicate a more orderly rally than a trendline alone as they tamp down on exaggerated price swings within the rising trend. But when prices move outside a channel we can quickly surmise that something changed. A breakdown, of course, would be bearish and indicate a possible reversal in trend. Conversely, a move above a rising channel would indicate an accelerated trend, and that means pullbacks become very shallow. Investors must act quickly to join in on the rally.

But such speed can quickly push a stock too far, too fast, leaving it overbought, or overextended, and ripe for a sharp correction. That is where HollyFrontier is now. Momentum indicators such as the relative strength index (RSI) are at very high levels. While this does not automatically result in a correction, it greatly increases the risk of chasing the stock higher.

A dip back down to the top of the former trend channel is a good place for late bulls to look for an opportunity to buy. Based on current trading, that could take as much as a 10% decline. It sounds big; but in the context of a doubling of price since last June, it is quite reasonable. Given the strength in HollyFrontier to date, however, it does not seem likely the stock will pull back quite that much before eager bulls jump back in.

Tesoro (TSO) is in a similar situation with an accelerated rally and overbought momentum indicators. Making it even more risky is that it has moved 54% above its own 200-day moving average (see Chart 2). Considering that this moving average is used as a proxy for long-term trend, we can see how the stock has indeed gotten a bit ahead of itself. Anything trading too far away from its major moving average is prone to a snapback.

Further, Tesoro has reached an upside price objective derived from its 2011-early 2012 trading range. By projecting the height of the pattern up from the breakout point, we can find a likely price zone at which the rally may run into problems. If the stock survives any selling pressure that arises, it often moves higher again by a similar amount.

In rough terms, Tesoro's range was between 18 and 30, so the first target was 12 points higher, at 42. The second target was another 12 points higher at 54 and the stock traded Monday at 54.34.

Again, long-term trends remain strong, so any pullback should provide investors with a better price at which to buy.

There are several other stocks in the group with similar technical conditions. Western Refining (WNR) is a smaller stock but its trend, following a pullback, looks just as strong. And larger stocks, such as Phillips 66 (PSX) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC), offer potential buys following pullbacks and sport single-digit price-earnings ratios (on trailing 12-month results) to make them interesting from the fundamental side as well.

Refiners:

• Marathon Petroleum (MPC)
• Western Refining (WNR)
• Phillips 66 (PSX)
• HollyFrontier (HFC)
• Tesoro (TSO)