Marathon CEO: Venezuelan oil sanctions not a big hit for U.S. refiners
https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Marathon-CEO-Venezuelan-oil-sanctions-not-a-big-13686321.phpMarch 14, 2019
The U.S. refining industry has been resilient in the wake of sanctions against Venezuelan oil and the sanctions aren't significantly affecting operations at the nation's biggest refiner, Marathon Petroleum Corp. its chief executive said at IHS Markit's CERAWeek in Houston.
Sanctions were "an overnight decision but we saw this coming a long time ago," said Gary Heminger CEO of Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum.
Heminger said the company buys millions of barrels a crude every day, and only a small portion of that was Venezuelan crude prior to the sanctions. In part, that's because dwindling oil production has forced Venezuela to send crude to other countries where it has contractual or debt obligations and in part because pricing for the Venezuelan crude has decreased its appeal for Marathon's refineries, which who capable of swapping out the crude for other heavy options.
"We're fully optimizing all of our coking and hydrocracking capacity on the Gulf Coast," with Mexican, Canadian and other heavy crude, Heminger he said. Marathon Petroleum has 16 refineries, including one in Galveston Bay and Garyville on the Gulf Coast....