AM-98-08 GASOLINE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMICS

Description:

The refining business is undergoing dramatic change in the United States and in the rest of the world. There are changes in consumption patterns and preferences, changes in mandated gasoline specifications, and remarkable modifications in corporate organization and ownership. There seems to be a new alliance, joint venture, merger or corporate restructuring announced every other week. Through acquisition, Tosco has rapidly evolved from a single-refinery company into the largest independent refiner with nearly a million barrels of refining capacity. Combinations of Shell, Texaco, and Star Enterprises and Ultramar, Diamond Shamrock, Total and PetroCanada and Marathon and Ashland that might have been unthinkable a few years ago are now a real part of the refining picture. Similarly, producer / refiner joint ventures continue to be formed. PDVSA’s annoucements of joint ventures with Mobil Chalmette, Phillips Sweeney and Amerada Hess in St. Croix follow earlier investments by PDVSA with CITGO and Unocal and PEMEX with Shell at Deer Park.