-Refineries unexpectedly cut their operating rates last week as fuel reserves continued to grow, according to the Energy Information Administration. Via Bloomberg, refinery operating rates were expected to increased from 94.6% to 95.1%, but instead fell to 93.1%.
-Meanwhile, EIA said today strong refining margins have not fully offset low upstream earnings for global integrated oil companies (IOC) amid the recent oil price collapse. IOCs’ total earnings fell 54% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2015. Upstream sector profits fell by $28 billion (80%), while downstream profits increased by nearly $6 billion (95%). Downstream earnings accounted for 63% of all earnings for the 11 companies EIA studied — a significantly higher share than the 15% average share between 2011 and 2014. High crack spreads contributed to the rise in downstream sector profits.
-Kinder Morgan is soliciting shipping contracts for a new pipeline that would carry NGLs from the Marcellus and Utica shales to the Texas Gulf Coast. Via FuelFix, Kinder Morgan said it would convert 964 miles of two existing natural gas lines stretching from Ohio to Natchitoches, La. It would then build 200 miles of new pipe from Natchitoches to Mont Belvieu, Texas. The pipeline could be in service by 2018.
-The city council of Denton, Texas, today repealed a voter-approved ban on fracking within the city. Via the Associated Press, the council said the repeal would undermine lawsuits filed by the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association after the ban was passed. Anti-fracking activists are pushing for the repeal of a law signed last month by Gov. Greg Abbott barring local ordinances that ban fracking.
-The Houston Ship Channel could remain closed until Thursday due to Tropical Storm Bill, Platts reports. The storm dumped as much as 1.48 inches of rain on the Houston area during a three-hour period on Wednesday. The channel has been closed since Monday evening.