MARKETWIRE ALERTS

MARKETWIRE ALERTS 

MarketWire Afternoon News for October 27^th

Updated at 5:30 PM ET 

HEADLINES:

–Chicago Jet Fuel Premium Strong After BP Whiting’s Restart

— PBF’s Torrance, CA, Refinery Plans Flare for Oct. 28-Nov. 5

— WTI at $61, Eyes Weekly U.S. Stocks Data, Fed Outlook

–U.S. 2024 Renewable Diesel Capacity Down; Ethanol Up

— BP Whiting Refinery Resumes Operations After Power Outage

— Elevation Launches Open Season for Colorado Crude Pipeline

NEWS:

Chicago Jet Fuel Premium Strong After BP Whiting’s Restart

Chicago jet fuel basis drew strong premium pricing against benchmark distillate futures on Monday (10/27), supported by lingering supply tightness after a brief outage reported last week at BP’s Whiting, Indiana refinery.

Jet fuel basis in Chicago strengthened to a 55cts premium to December NYMEX ULSD futures. That was 57cts higher than the negative 2cts differential from a year ago, DTN Energy data showed.

Market participants said strength in the jet market also contrasted sharply with weaker gasoline differentials across the Midwest.

The spike in Chicago jet fuel differentials followed a power outage that prompted a temporary evacuation at BP’s 435,000-bpd Whiting refinery, the Midwest’s largest, on Friday (10/24). BP said power was quickly restored, and the plant resumed work without any impact to operations or staff safety.

A trader familiar with the Midwest refined products market said the disruption at Whiting created a market anomaly where jet fuel prices remained strong while gasoline weakened —  a dynamic that made sense because the units producing jet fuel were the most affected by the outage.

“Although BP Whiting has resumed operations, it takes time for the refinery to reach full capacity,” the trader said. “In the meantime, it appears BP continues to cover supply obligations through the spot market.”

Prior to Friday, BP had experienced multiple unit shutdowns at Whiting on October 16.

Jet fuel had been trading at an 11cts discount before that incident. In contrast, Chicago CBOB gasoline basis settled on Monday at an 8.5cts discount to front-month futures of RBOB on NYMEX. That was just 2cts lower than the discount seen a year ago.

PBF’s Torrance, CA, Refinery Plans Flare for Oct. 28-Nov. 5

PBF Energy has scheduled a flaring event at its 155,000 bpd Torrance, California refinery, starting at 12:01 a.m. PT on October 28 and ending at 11:59 p.m. PT on November 5.  

In a filing with the South Coast Air Quality Management District released Monday (10/27), PBF reported that it expects to release volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions that may exceed 100 lb and sulfur oxides emissions to exceed nearly 500 lb for the entire event. Additionally, the operator anticipates vent gas flow to surpass 100,000 scf.

The Torrance refinery supplies gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the Los Angeles and Orange County markets.

A steam-related disruption at the Torrance refinery, along with a major outage at PBF Energy’s Martinez refinery, contributed to a drop in West Coast refinery utilization during the first quarter of 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The planned flaring at Torrance follows a series of other refinery disruptions in Southern California this month involving Chevron’s 269,000-bpd El Segundo refinery.

El Segundo experienced an explosion on October 2 that affected its Isomax 7 hydrocracker unit critical for jet fuel and gasoline production. PBF has reported multiple flare activities throughout October that are still under investigation, according to the company’s filings to the SCAQMD.

WTI at $61, Eyes Weekly U.S. Stocks Data, Fed Outlook

Crude prices were steady Monday (10/27) as market participants awaited weekly data on U.S. oil supplies and a Federal Reserve decision on interest rates.

The NYMEX WTI contract for December delivery settled down $0.19 at $61.31 bbl. ICE Brent for December delivery closed down $0.32 at $65.62.

Fuel prices bucked the downtrend in crude. November RBOB gasoline futures rose $0.0010 to $1.9237 gallon. Front-month ULSD futures climbed for a seventh straight day, advancing  $0.0381 to a one-month high $2.4412 gallon.

The U.S. Dollar Index edged down by 0.062 points to 98.685 against a basket of foreign currencies.

Market participants are focused on inventory data for the week ended October 24, due on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute. Separately, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will report on Wednesday oil inventories for last week.

WTI and Brent climbed more than 7% last week before turning soft in Monday’s session on concerns about global oversupply.

Last week’s rally in oil, the largest since June, followed the EIA’s report of across-the-board draws in stockpiles of crude oil and fuel during the week ended October l7. New U.S. sanctions on Russian oil added to the bullish tone.

The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to hold a two-day meeting this week that will result in a decision on interest rates on Wednesday. Market expectations are for a quarter percentage point cut, similar to what the Fed decided for September.

U.S. 2024 Renewable Diesel Capacity Down; Ethanol Up

Growth in U.S. production capacity for renewable diesel and other biofuels slowed by more than two-thirds last year versus the prior two years, although ethanol saw a record expansion in output capacity, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday (10/27).

Capacity additions for non-ethanol biofuels, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable heating oil, renewable naphtha, renewable propane, renewable gasoline and other emerging biofuels, slowed last year. Their capacity rose a modest 3% from the start of 2024 to the start of this year, the EIA said.

Illustrating its point, the agency said capacity for renewable diesel and non-ethanol biofuels grew by just 391 million gallons per year (Mgpy) last year, less than one-third of the growth observed in 2022 and 2023.

Ethanol production capacity, meanwhile, increased more last year than in prior years. Fuel ethanol accounted for 73% of all biofuels production capacity in 2024, with a total of almost 18.5 billion gallons of capacity per year.

Most of the new ethanol production capacity was concentrated in Midwest states, where corn is produced for feedstock. Because U.S. fuel ethanol consumption has been somewhat flat in recent years, the increased capacity is mostly contributing to growing exports of ethanol, the EIA said.

Amid an increased focus on SAF, capacity growth for renewable diesel and non-ethanol biofuels slowed as only two new refineries came on board in 2024.

The two were Phillips 66’s Rodeo 767-Mgpy refinery in San Francisco’s Contra Costa County that had been converted to exclusively produce biofuels and Grapevine Energy Holdings’ 138-Mgpy Renewable Fuels plant in Bakersfield.

The EIA also noted that eight biodiesel plants closed last year due to poor margins, resulting in a loss of about 100 Mgpy in production capacity.

BP Whiting Refinery Resumes Operations After Power Outage

BP’s 435,000 bpd Whiting, Indiana, refinery resumed operations on Friday (10/24) after a power outage prompted a temporary evacuation at the plant, the company said.

 “The bp Whiting Refinery experienced a short power outage caused by a disruption to electrical service that occurred outside of the refinery. Power was quickly restored, and the refinery resumed operations,” according to a company statement released late Friday.

“We activated our emergency response team and evacuated personnel out of an abundance of caution. All personnel have returned to their workstations. There were no impacts outside of the refinery,” BP statement added.

BP did not provide additional details regarding the latest outage.

On October 16, the Whiting refinery – the largest in the Midwest – experienced flaring activity leading to multiple unit shutdowns, which caused high record prices on gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Elevation Launches Open Season for Colorado Crude Pipeline

Elevation Midstream said its unit DJ South Gathering has launched a binding open season to obtain shipper commitments for a Colorado crude oil pipeline that will be operational in 2026.

The liquids product pipeline will gather and transport crude from receipt points located in the Adams and Arapahoe Counties to delivery points at the Platteville Complex and Lucerne Station in Weld County, Elevation said in an announcement Friday (10/24).

It is scheduled to become operational in the third quarter of 2026 and will feature new construction to be added to DJ South’s underutilized existing trunk line in Colorado.

The month-long open season, which began on Friday at 8:00 am CDT, closes on November 25. It provides an opportunity for interested shippers to secure long-term crude oil transportation on the pipeline under binding transportation service agreements.