据美国《商业杂志》6月17日消息,美国能源信息署EIA表示,埃克森美孚与其他大型石油公司今年早些时候,在油价跌至六年来最低点的时段内通过运营炼厂业务获利丰厚。
EIA发布报告称,一季度11家综合性石油公司收益的63%来自下游板块,其中也包括埃克森。
2011-2014年,这些公司的收益只有15%来自下游板块,勘探与生产占据了收益中的绝大部分,在原油价格普遍高于100美元/桶的情况下,这种现象并不意外。
对于拥有炼油业务的公司而言,关键在于裂解价差。
炼厂创造了原油价格与石油产成品零售价之间的差值。一季度汽油的裂解价差为28美分,较去年增长7美分。
EIA表示,当前布伦特原油、汽油及燃料油的组合裂解价差高于2011年以来的水平。其中布伦特即指国际原油。
基本上,这意味着尽管原油价格暴跌,但却没有引起汽油与其他石油产成品同等幅度的降价,这就是炼厂所产生的利润。
詹乐乾 摘译自《商业杂志》,2015-6-17
原文如下:
EIA: Refineries equal 63 percent of the profit for super major oil companies right now
Exxon Mobil Corp. and other super major oil companies certainly benefitted from having refinery operations when oil prices hit a six-year low earlier this year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In fact, a whopping 63 percent of earnings for 11 integrated oil companies came from the downstream side in the first quarter, the EIA reported. That includes Exxon.
Compare that to 2011 to 2014 when these same companies received 15 percent of their earnings from the downstream side. The majority of the revenue during those years came from exploration and production, which isn’t surprising since crude oil was more than $100 a barrel for much of that time.
For companies that have refinery operations, it’s all about the crack spread.
That’s the differential between crude oil prices and the retail price of finished products that come out of the refinery. The crack spread for gasoline was 28 cents in the first quarter, 7 cents higher than a year ago.
The combined crack spread for Brent crude oil, gasoline and heating oil is higher than it’s been since at least 2011, according to the EIA. Brent refers to international crude oil.
Basically, that means that although crude oil prices dropped, gasoline and other finished products didn’t drop nearly as much. That equals profit for refiners.