Oil-Refining Margins Are Worst in Three Quarters, BP Data Show

Profits from turning a barrel of crude into oil products are the worst since the first quarter amid waning demand for gasoline and other fuels, according to BP Plc data. BP’s Global Indicator Margin, a broad measure of refining profitability, has averaged $4.84 a barrel so far this quarter through to 18 Dec, compared with $5.69 in the year-ago quarter, and $4.57 in the first quarter, Europe’s second-biggest oil company said on its Web site. Global margins have dropped 40 percent since the third quarter, and almost 80 percent in the U.S. Midwest.

The U.S. economy shrank in the third quarter at a 0.5 percent annual pace as the now year-old recession began to intensify, the Commerce Department said today. Consumers are cutting spending on travel and goods derived from oil, sometimes pushing wholesale gasoline below the price of the crude from which it is made. Northwest European refiners earned $7.76 a barrel so far this quarter, the most of the six regions surveyed, followed by the Mediterranean at $5.15, according to London-based BP.

The lowest margins were in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest, at $2.30 and $2.20, respectively. Those two regions had the highest profit margins in the third quarter. European gasoline’s discount to Brent crude, the region’s benchmark oil, widened to $5.40 a barrel today, from $4.51 a barrel yesterday, according to broker PVM Oil Associates Ltd. Fuels usually cost more than their feedstock, to reflect the expense of processing. BP’s Global Indicator Margin is a generic number derived from third party data, using typical regional crudes and product yields, according to the company’s Web site.

Source: Bloomberg