Flint Hills Resources raised posted prices by 10 cents per gallon across the board Friday, completing an unusually drawn-out round of hikes for paraffinic stocks. Naphthenic producers also continued to increase prices.
In other news, the naphthenic plant at Lyondell-Citgos refinery in Houston was unaffected by a weekend fire that will curtail some fuels operations.
Flint Hills Resources was the last of 10 paraffinic suppliers to join a round of markups that began a month ago, and its increase was consistent with the movements made by other companies. Price changes typically work their way through the market in one-fourth that amount of time, but this round appeared to have dragged out due to the fact that several plants were closed by Hurricane Rita.
Flint Hills Resources is a 50-50 partner with ConocoPhillips in the Excel Paralubes joint venture, which is one of the closed plants. The others are Motivas plant at Port Arthur, Texas, andExxonMobils Beaumont, Texas, plant.
Citgo followed several naphthenic producers in raising its prices by 10 cents per gallon Monday. Citgo markets pale oils produced at the Houston refinery through its joint venture with Lyondell. A fire broke out in a fluid catalytic cracker Sunday, injuring one employee. Lyondell-Citgo spokesman David Harpole said a gasoline unit will be closed for a month or more while repairs are made but that the base oil plant is operating normally.
Many buyers and sellers were in Orlando, Fla., this week, attending the annual meeting of the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association.
Crude oil prices dipped again the past week. The price on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed yesterday at $62.82 per barrel, Bloomberg reported, 95 cents lower than Oct. 11.
Historic U.S. posted base oil prices and WTI and Brent crude spot prices are available for purchase in Excel format.