Joseph Israel
Analyst · Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Bill. As you may recall, Hurricane Lane threatened to be the first major hurricane to hit Hawaii since hurricane Iniki in 1992. In anticipation of Hurricane Lane, we followed our hurricane procedures and shut down the refinery on August 22. Three days later, on August 25, we began the start-up process, with the hydrocracker back online on September 2, approximately 10 days following the shutdown. The need to import instead of producing jet fuel and ultra-low sulfur diesel resulted in estimated $7 million of missed opportunities, with approximately $2 million reflected in our third quarter results. In the third quarter, we executed our planned reformer catalyst regeneration on-time and on-budget, with approximately $2.8 million of estimated missed opportunities at gross margin level and $0.5 million impact on production cost. Shifting gears to market conditions. Constructive oil demand in the Asian markets has resulted in low products inventory and a relatively high crack spread environment on Brent basis, especially for distillates and fuel oil. Asian refineries responded through utilization and higher demand for crude oil. On the oil supply front, the geopolitical dynamics, including the sanctions on Iran, the challenges in Venezuela oil production and the questionable ability of OPEC to replace those missing barrels have supported oil pricing in general, and specifically, for us, Pacific grade's pricing differentials. Our combined Mid Pacific Index in the third quarter was $8.59 per barrel compared to $10.27 per barrel during the third quarter of 2017. Our Hawaii refinery throughput in the third quarter was 72,000 barrels per day with 50% distillate yield. We sold a total of 84,000 barrels per day in the quarter, including a record high 75,000 barrels per day of on-island sales. Our adjusted gross margin was $3.66 per barrel, reflecting approximately $0.60 per barrel of missed opportunities associated with the hurricane and reformer regeneration. Fuel oil export timing negatively impacted our results by $0.30 per barrel. And finally, during this time, we experienced headwinds impacting our capture rate, mainly driven by crude pricing and a backwardated market structure, which we estimate at approximately $1.00 per barrel. Our production cost was $3.97 per barrel, reflecting the reformer regeneration cost and the relatively low throughput. As Bill mentioned, following the anticipated closing of the IES deal, we are planning to run over 110,000 barrels per day on a combined basis. Assuming a late December closing, our planned throughput for the fourth quarter is in the 78,000 to 79,000 barrels per day range. In Hawaii, we continue to take advantage of our sulfur and hydrogen open capacity and build low-cost, high-return projects. In addition to the $27 million, 10,000 barrels per day diesel hydrotreater, which is planned to be online in the third quarter next year, we are commencing this base to build a 10,000 barrels per day naphtha hydrotreater with a 6,500 barrels per day Isom unit. This $44 million strategic project will allow us to convert naphtha exports into gasoline production, help us to balance our system's sulfur and benzene needs and provide us with more octane flexibility. This project has a first quarter 2021 completion target. Moving on to our refinery in Newcastle, Wyoming. Another quarter of strong market conditions and execution. Our 3-2-1 index was $26.25 per barrel during the quarter. This is compared to $25.29 per barrel during the third quarter of 2017. In the third quarter, our refinery throughput averaged 17,100 barrels per day with 46% distillate yield. In the quarter, we sold 16,300 barrels per day. In the third quarter, approximately 17% of our produced gasoline was premium high octane, after delivering over 20% in the second quarter, to meet seasonal gasoline demand. Our adjusted gross margin in the quarter was $17.95 per barrel compared to $18.67 per barrel in the third quarter of 2017. Production costs in the quarter were at record low, only $6.10 per barrel, driven by strong 99.8% operational flexibility and relatively high throughput. In October, we executed our planned 14 days turnaround in our Wyoming Refinery, which beyond improving catalyst in the diesel hydrotreater and naphtha hydrotreater, also included reliability and efficiency small projects. In conjunction with the turnaround, we are expecting a fourth quarter production cost impact of approximately $1.5 million and approximately $3 million of missed opportunities at the gross margin level. So far in the fourth quarter, our Wyoming 3-2-1 has averaged approximately $26 per barrel on WTI basis. In the local crude market, we continue to see improved crude differentials, driven by logistics constraints. Estimated throughput in the fourth quarter is approximately 16,000 to 16,500 barrels per day. Now I'll turn the call over to Will to review financial results and Laramie highlights.