Phil Flynn: You Have Got to Love that Groundhog

The Energy Report Wednesday February 3 2010

Maybe that ground hog is something special after all. Oil futures fly after the ground hog say his shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter. And by the way no I did not see my shadow and yes I heard that one before. Still oil joined the stock market in the biggest two day rebound in over three months. Oils sudden resurgence comes on the backs of some renewed economic optimism especially in the manufacturing sector but also because of some concerns about the disruption of supply.

RBOB Gasoline lead the rally gaining even more support from refineries that are closing on purpose and some that are not. Oh sure most of the move in oil seemed to be macro economically motivated but word that Valero Energy Corp. shut a fluid catalytic cracker at its Quebec City refinery after a fire sure helped gasoline lead the way. Bloomberg news said that the fire was reported at about 2 a.m. local time at pumps on the gasoline making cat cracker, Bill Day, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail. No injuries were reported. The blaze was extinguished at 4:40 a.m.

The 66,000 barrel a day cat cracker has been shut down and an estimate for the restart of the unit is pending a damage assessment, according to Day. The refinery has a capacity of 265,000 barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.....Read the entire article.


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