The global refining industry enjoyed a strong year in 2012, with all regions showing an improvement in weighted average net cash margins, as depicted in Figure 1. As a region, North America emerged as the most attractive business environment. This was primarily due to the US and the performance of those refineries (PADDs Ⅱ and Ⅳ) which could capture the advantage of processing domestic crudes that priced at a significant discount to the international market. However, as of end-September 2013, the refining margin environment had weakened significantly compared to 2012, as industry fundamentals became more firmly established (see Figure 2). In hindsight, 2012 was in fact an unusual year for the refining industry, as: 1. Global gasoline crack spreads were very strong due to low stocks and unforeseen outages in the US, Venezuela and Asia due to hurricanes and incidents.
展开▼
