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How refinery fuel indexes have varied

Jan. 4, 1999

Index for refinery fuels [82,341 bytes] Itemized refining cost indexes [198,860 bytes] Itemized refining cost indexes Refinery fuels costs have endured a steady incline since 1995, except for a period in 1995 and 1997. As shown in the accompanying table, most of the PADD residual fuels' increases in cost occurred in 1996 for all of the five PADD districts. PADD 4 remained the same overall, while PADD 1 incurred the highest increase in price over the period.

Gary Farrar
Contributing Editor

Index for refinery fuels [82,341 bytes]
Itemized refining cost indexes [198,860 bytes]
Itemized refining cost indexes
Refinery fuels costs have endured a steady incline since 1995, except for a period in 1995 and 1997. As shown in the accompanying table, most of the PADD residual fuels' increases in cost occurred in 1996 for all of the five PADD districts. PADD 4 remained the same overall, while PADD 1 incurred the highest increase in price over the period.

The cost for natural gas for refinery usage increased dramatically during the 3-year study. These conclusions are based on costs of an average refinery fuel consisting of 1 bbl each of PADD 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 variations occurred in PADDs 2, 3, and 5. PADD 4 changed only marginally in yearly average from 505.3 to 528.1.

PADD 1's 3-year averages started with 551.3, increased to 690.1, and finished with 654.7. All indexes shown are based on 1956 = 100, the basis of the Nelson-Farrar Operating Index for an average U.S. refinery.