Stillwater Associates LLC Newsletter
April 2015
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| In the April edition of the Newsletter we offer the latest update to the Bubble Map Blog. Robert Jaques of Chinook Consulting LLC summarizes the results of a study Stillwater conducted on the role of senior safety staff in Refining Industry safety performance. Dave Hackett details his experience at last month's AFPM Annual Meeting. Finally we update you on what happened at the Stillwater Annual Meeting. |
Bubble Map Update: Crude Prices Up Slightly as Production Slows
The April Bubble Map finds crude oil prices on a slight uptick. WTI broke the $50 threshold and was priced at $52 per barrel on April 13th. The WTI/Brent differential has tightened to $7 over WTI. The Alaska North Slope price has gone up, rising to $3 over WTI. Alaska's Dalton Highway, the lone road leading to North Slope Oilfields, has been closed recently due to flooding. This has slowed production and may explain the ANS price movement. Western Canadian Select and Bakken are discounted at $12 under WTI.
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Do Environmental, Health & Safety Titles Matter?
by Robert Jaques, Chinook Consulting LLC
Stillwater Associates recently conducted a study to understand oil refining industry safety practices, and in particular the role of senior safety staff in safety performance. At first glance, the answer seemed to be obvious - a company with a senior executive responsible for safety should perform better than a company where safety was delegated to lower level staff.
We initiated a study of publicly available information on both safety performance and the senior safety staff, usually Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S), at several companies in the refining industry, including Phillips 66, Valero, Marathon Petroleum Company (MPC), Tesoro and PBF. We also included Suncor Energy, Canada's largest energy company, and E.I. DuPont de Nemours, a chemical company well regarded for its safety programs. It should be noted that Suncor is an integrated oil company, with significant operations in Canada's Oilsands as well as refineries in Canada and the U.S.
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Notes from the AFPM Annual Meeting
The AFPM Annual Meeting was back in San Antonio this year. Every year I find this four-day event educational, fun and exhausting. It seems like every day goes from 7 AM to Midnight and is filled with meetings, eating and drinking. The San Antonio hometown oil companies host big parties and there are plenty of other events to meet old friends and new ones.
I always attend the technical sessions. This is where smart people present their latest thinking about current issues. This year I took in the presentations on implications of the U.S. crude oil export policy, light tight oil (LTO) production outlook, crude oil export regulations and the AFPM staff's discussion on regulatory issues.
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Stillwater 2015 Annual Meeting
 In March, Stillwater held our annual meeting. This meeting brings together associates from all around the U.S. to Irvine, California to discuss issues affecting our industry and our company. The evolution of this annual meeting reflects the growth of Stillwater Associates. This annual meeting began five years ago with just three people, David Hackett, David Bulfin and Megan Boutwell. This year 19 Associates met to discuss the crude oil market, the state of the refining industry, the future of gasoline prices and the best technology practices for our style of consulting business. It was very exciting to have all these smart people in one room coming up with great ideas. Big things are happening at Stillwater!
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