NEW YORK, NY — (Marketwire) — 05/16/12 — Refiners have continued to battle costly regulations and high oil prices. The Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing Industry is one of the most regulated in the U.S. and will soon face even more with the implementation of EPA–s Tier III standards. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Oil & Gas Refining & Marketing Industry and provides equity research on Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO).
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EPA–s Tier II standards, implemented in 2004, have forced refiners to cut sulfur levels from an average of 300 parts per million to an average of 30 ppm. The 90 percent decrease came at a cost of $10 billion to the industry, while new Tier III rules would see sulfur content in gasoline drop further from 30 ppm to 10 ppm. Tier III would add approximately six to nine cents per gallon in manufacturing costs, according to a report from Baker and O–Brien conducted for the American Petroleum Institute (API).
“We urge the administration to take a step back on Tier III and its other proposed rules,” said Bob Greco, API downstream and industry operations director. “We must be sure that new regulatory proposals are necessary, properly crafted, practical and fair to allow US refiners to remain competitive, preserve good paying refinery jobs and ensure our energy security.”
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Phillips 66, created through the repositioning of ConocoPhillips, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012, under the ticker PSX. The company–s Refining and Marketing operations include 15 refineries with a net crude oil capacity of 2.2 million barrels per day, 10,000 branded marketing outlets, and 15,000 miles of pipeline systems. Phillips 66 owns or has an interest in 11 refineries in the United States, three in Europe and one in Asia.
Valero Energy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is an international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels, other petrochemical products and power. Valero subsidiaries– assets include 16 petroleum refineries with a combined throughput capacity of approximately 3 million barrels per day, 10 ethanol plants with a combined production capacity of 1.2 billion gallons per year, and a 50-megawatt wind farm. The company reported a loss from continuing operations of $432 million for the first quarter of 2012, compared to income from continuing operations of $104 million for the first quarter of 2011.
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