Running on E: Industry reflects on Ontario fuel capacity

…The crackspread — the difference between the rack-wholesale price and the price of crude (and where oil companies’ profit margins lie) — is at all time high, explains Rosnak. “So do they get on the bandwagon and build a refinery or do they say to themselves ‘what happens if there are too many refineries? We’re enjoying a crackspread we haven’t seen before.’”

Although much of the media blamed the Nanticoke blaze for the shortage, that incident only punctuated a series of events that slowly pinched supply over the last year. It began with a fire at Petro-Canada’s Oakville, Ont. plant in early 2006, followed by a fire at Shell’s Sarnia refinery in December.


Capacity was already tight when the St. Lawrence Seaway closed for the winter. Then CN Rail was crippled by a strike.

Rosnak thinks truckers would be better served by laws similar to those in the U.S., which require immediate reports from suppliers if there’s a problem with refining and pipeline capacity or distribution.

Today’s Trucking