據油價網5月27日消息，美國煉油廠的開工率創下自疫情暴發前以來的最高水平，但預計短期內不會通過大規模擴產來緩解緊張的燃料市場。

一些美國最大的煉油廠正在努力擴大現有大型設施的原油加工能力，但這些增加并不能完全抵消美國煉油廠的加工能力。美國煉油廠的加工產能自疫情發生之后一直關閉。 

埃克森美孚、瓦萊羅和馬拉松石油公司目前正在對三個大型煉油廠進行擴建，這將為美國每天新增35萬桶的原油蒸餾能力。

產能擴大的煉油廠包括埃克森美孚在博蒙特的煉油廠、瓦萊羅的亞瑟港煉油廠和馬拉松石油公司的加爾維斯頓灣煉油廠，均位于得克薩斯州。

然而，自疫情開始以來，美國每天約有100萬桶的煉油廠產能被永久關閉，因為煉油廠要么關閉虧損的設施，要么將其中一些設施改造成生物燃料生產基地。

根據EIA數據，美國2021年可運營煉油廠產能略高于1800萬桶/ 日，為2015年以來的最低水平。

美國煉油廠無法滿足需求。并不是說需求飆升了這么多。這是全球和美國的供應能力，現在比疫情前每天減少幾百萬桶。

在短期內，煉油廠正在提高產能利用率，目前產能利用率為2019年底以來的最高水平。例如，馬拉松石油公司預計第二季度的總吞吐量約為290萬桶/日，即95%的利用率。

馬拉松石油公司全球清潔產品價值鏈高級副總裁Brian Partee在本月初的第一季度財報電話會議上表示：“我認為，由于供應鏈中斷、勞動力中斷和疫情期間的經濟中斷，新增煉油產能進入市場的不確定性會更大。”

祝精燕 摘譯自 油價網

原文如下：

U.S. Refiners Set To Add Just 350,000 Bpd Capacity By End-2023

U.S. refiners are operating at the highest operating rate since before the pandemic, but they are not expected to bring relief to the tight fuel market through major capacity expansions in the short term.

Some of the biggest refiners are working on expanding the crude oil processing capacity at large existing facilities, but those additions will not fully offset the U.S. refinery processing capacity, which closed during and right after COVID. 

ExxonMobil, Valero, and Marathon Petroleum are currently working on the expansion at three large refineries, which will bring a combined 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) additional crude distillation capacity in the United States.

The refineries that will see their capacity expanded are Exxon's facility in Beaumont, Valero's Port Arthur refinery, and Marathon Petroleum's Galveston Bay refinery, all in Texas.

However, some 1 million bpd of refinery capacity in America has been shut permanently since the start of the pandemic, as refiners have opted to either close losing facilities or convert some of them into biofuel production sites.

In the United States, operable refinery capacity was at just over 18 million bpd in 2021, the lowest since 2015, per EIA data.

U.S. refineries cannot catch up with demand. Not that demand has soared so much. It's the capacity for supply, globally and in the U.S, that is now a few million barrels per day lower than it was before the pandemic.

In the short term, refiners are boosting utilization capacity, which is now at its highest since the end of 2019. Marathon Petroleum, for example, expects total throughput volumes of roughly 2.9 million bpd in the second quarter, which would be a 95% utilization rate.

"I think with supply chain disruptions, labor disruptions, the disruption economically during COVID, there's a little bit more uncertainty on new addition, refining capacity coming into the marketplace," Brian Partee, Senior Vice President, Global Clean Products Value Chain, at Marathon Petroleum, said on the Q1 earnings call early this month.