Futures Market News
Production concerns at Petroplus drive up oil distillates
Dec 29, 2011 03:50 PM
Even as crude oil continues to climb in response to uncertainty around Iranian sanctions, the ongoing debt scourge in the euro zone could threaten production at the region's oil refineries, pushing up prices for refined products.
Reuters reports that gasoil futures have risen in response to the recent news that Swiss refiner Petroplus, the largest oil refining company in Europe, has had $1 billion in credit frozen by lenders.
These funds would normally be used to purchase crude oil, raising the possibility that Petroplus will need to reduce output at its five European oil refineries once it runs through its current supplies.
MarketWatch reports that the company has enough crude oil for "several days" but that beyond this timeline further credit will be necessary to maintain current production.
"This, coupled with low gasoil stocks in ARA and a lot of winter still left, could be the oil price driver over the next month or so," Dominick Chirichella, a senior partner at Energy Management Institute, told Reuters.
As of 3:44 p.m. gas oil futures $924.50 per metric ton, a rise of 1.09 percent.
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