U.S. retail octane value hits all-time high

The retail value of octane, which has been increasing relentlessly, hit another all-time high of almost $0.15 per octane-gallon at the end of September.

In units more familiar to refinery engineers, that’s $6.30 per octane-barrel!

Much has been written about the causes of the increase. Hoekstra Trading attributes it to the $10 billion/year of octane supply destruction being caused by increased severity of gasoline desulfurization to meet the new Tier 3 gasoline sulfur specification.

Remedies are available to refiners.

Recommendation

Every refining executive should have a comprehensive understanding of the technical, regulatory, and economic aspects of Tier 3 gasoline, the sulfur credit program and how they affect your business. Those wanting a quick education on the Tier 3 issue should get the short book, Gasoline Desulfurization for Tier 3 Compliance, which will make you an expert in a day. Once you have become expertly informed of the problem, you can save yourself and your team years of research by buying Hoekstra Research Report 8. We saw the problem coming, gathered the required data, ran the simulations and analyzed the results so you and your team can concentrate on initiating informed strategies that will immediately go to the bottom line. The report includes detailed pilot plant and commercial field test data, full detail of sulfur credit pricing, spreadsheet models to help improve gasoline optimization, investment decisions, sulfur credit strategy and refining margin capture in the Tier 3 world. 

Don’t get caught panic buying after the credits spike.