Things are certainly looking better for refiners as oil prices come down and their businesses become more profitable.
Refineries operated at 89.7 percent of their capacity last week, up 1.8 percentage points from the week before and the highest since the week ended Jan. 4, the department said. The profit margin, or crack spread, for making three barrels of crude oil into one of heating oil and two of gasoline jumped 46 percent in May.
I was recently looking into Sunoco and found an interesting tidbit as I read their last 10Q. It seems they are expanding cokemaking facilities through their subsidiary SunCoke Energy (that company sounds like a new energy drink from Coca-Cola) to various steel companies including AK Steel and Mittal.
It seems like an interesting side business since a steel mill with a coke plant next door can seriously cut their costs. Also the steam generated from making coke can also be sold to the steel company for their own power needs or put directly onto the power market if the steel company doesn't want it. Also these mills are under pretty long term contracts as well so it should create a solid revenue stream for Sunoco.
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