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

(Bloomberg) — 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


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.

Bloomberg