Crude Oil, Gasoline at Highest Levels Since 2008: Oil Products

Crude oil extended a 31-month high, rising for the third straight day after the Commerce Department reported Americans increased their spending in March. Gasoline advanced for the seventh straight day, adding to a 33-month high. Heating oil and ethanol also gained.

Crude Oil

Crude oil for June delivery rose $1.07, or 1 percent, to $113.93 a barrel, the highest settlement since Sept. 22, 2008, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Futures gained 6.8 percent in April and have advanced each month since August, the longest streak of increases since trading began in 1983. Prices climbed 1.5 percent this week and 34 percent in the past year.

Gasoline

Gasoline for May delivery rose 3.5 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at $3.4648 a gallon on the Nymex, gaining 4.7 percent this week. The more actively traded June contract advanced 2.88 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $3.3984. May contracts for gasoline and heating oil expired at the close of floor trading today.

Regular retail gasoline rose 2.3 cents to $3.909 a gallon yesterday, AAA said on its website. That’s the highest price since July 29, 2008. The record was $4.114 on July 15, 2008.

Heating Oil

Heating oil for May delivery advanced 2.42 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $3.2558 a gallon on the exchange, and posted a weekly increase of 1.8 percent. The more actively traded June contract gained 2.99 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $3.2758.

Prices for the front-month contract rose 5.3 percent this month and have gained 28 percent this year.

Ethanol

Denatured ethanol for May delivery gained the most in four weeks, rising 8.6 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $2.649 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade, ending the week up 2.4 percent. Ethanol has increased 66 percent in the past year.

Refineries and Transport

Royal Dutch Shell Plc plans to shut a crude unit, a coker, hydrotreaters and a catalytic reformer at its Puget Sound refinery in Washington starting in late September, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.

Tesoro Corp. shut down the F-102 unit for maintenance at its Anacortes refinery in Washington yesterday, according to a filing with state regulators. The F-102 is a crude oil heater combustion air preheater, according to a separate filing with regulators.

PBF Energy Co. LLC has restarted a fluid catalytic cracker and alkylation unit after maintenance at its refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, according to a person familiar with operations at the plant.

BP Plc’s Texas City, Texas, refinery started a crude unit late yesterday, according to a person familiar with the situation. Other process units will begin startup within the next few days, said the person.

Valero Energy Corp. said some process units at its Texas City, Texas, refinery are back online after a power failure April 26 shut the plant, Bill Day, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-29/crude-oil-gasoline-at-highest-levels-since-2008-oil-products.html)