May 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil climbed to a six-month high and gasoline surged after equities rebounded and a fire broke out at a Flint Hills Resources LLC refinery, curbing production.
Oil and stocks rose a second day as gains in utilities and commodity producers helped the market overcome an early slide spurred by an unexpected drop in housing starts to a record low. The catalytic cracker caught fire at Flint Hills’ Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery, according to preliminary reports from the state’s environmental agency.
“The market was in negative territory until equities turned,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “Gasoline has a bigger move, probably because of the fire at the Flint Hills refinery. This comes on top of problems at Valero and Sunoco.”
Crude oil for June delivery rose 62 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $59.65 a barrel at 2:50 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Nov. 10. Prices are up 34 percent this year.
The June crude contract expired today. The more-actively traded July contract climbed 51 cents, or 0.9 percent, to end the session at $60.10 a barrel.
The Flint Hills refinery has a capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A catalytic cracker is used to make higher-value products such as gasoline and diesel.
Preliminary Reports
“We have very preliminary reports that the cat cracker is what was on fire,” said Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. “We sent a team out there but haven’t heard anything further.” more...
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