HOW REFINERY FUEL INDEXES HAVE VARIED

Refinery fuels costs have fallen consistently since 1984, except for a brief period in 1990. As shown in the accompanying table, these drops in cost have occurred for residual fuel oil costs in all five PAD districts.

Meanwhile, the cost for natural gas for refinery usage has remained rather steady.

These conclusions are based on costs of an average refinery fuel consisting of 1 bbl each of PAD Districts 1-5 and an average U. S. cost of 4.4 MMscf natural gas (a 1 bbl equivalent on a BTU content basis). Raw residual fuel oil and natural gas prices come from publications put out by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Biggest variation in the fuel oil indexes occurred in PAD District 5, from 1110.2 in the fourth quarter of 1992, to 470.4 in the first quarter of 1992. Least variation in residual fuel indexes occurred for PAD District 2, with high and low values being 775.2 and 363.1, respectively.

Overall refinery fuel price index is shown in the last column of the table. These values show the least index variation, due to averaging effects.

All indexes shown are based on 1956 = 100, the basis of the Nelson-Farrar Operating Index for an average U.S. refinery.

Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.