Gulf Gasoline Gains as Sweeny Expected in Several Days

U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline strengthened after Phillips 66 (PSX) said a refinery in Sweeny, Texas, will need several days to restart following a power failure.

Several process units at the 247,000-barrel-a-day plant shut or experienced operational issues yesterday after the power failure triggered by Texas-New Mexico Power Co., a third-party supplier, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The incident “resulted in temporary shutdown of the refinery,” Rich Johnson, a Houston-based spokesman for Phillips 66, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “Power has been restored and we’re in the process of restarting the refinery, which we expect to take several days.”

The discount for reformulated, 84-octane gasoline on the Gulf Coast narrowed 0.5 cent to 22 cents a gallon versus futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:08 p.m. The spread between the fuel on the Gulf Coast and New York Harbor widened to 7.49 cents a gallon, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The 3-2-1 crack spread on the Gulf, a measure of refining profitability based on West Texas Intermediate in Cushing, Oklahoma, retreated $1.29 to $32.12 a barrel after climbing by 89 cents last week. The same spread for Light Louisiana Sweet oil declined 99 cents following a $1.24 advance last week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Harvey in New York at charvey32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net