Lyondell Basell Industries completed the final shutdown of its 263,776 barrel-per-day Houston refinery, people familiar with plant operations said on Friday. Lyondell began the previously announced shutdown of the refinery on January 27. Lyondell, in an emailed statement on Friday night, declined to discuss the status of the refinery. Some units at the refinery are on warm circulation until they can be emptied of feedstocks and product remaining in the units. A unit on warm [Read more]

The discount of Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) narrowed on Friday: * WCS for March delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.50 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, having ended at a $13.95 discount on Thursday. * Canadian heavy crude prices have so far held up well in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs plan, analysts said. * Trump paused his plan to impose a 10% levy on [Read more]

U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a second week in a row for the first time since July 2024, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by four to 586 in the week to February 7. Despite this week's rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 37 rigs, or 6% below this time last year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by one to 480 this [Read more]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said U.S. President Donald Trump's talk about absorbing Canada "is a real thing" and is linked to the country's rich natural resources, a government source said. Trudeau made the remarks during a closed-door session of business and labor leaders on how best to respond to Trump's threats of tariffs on Canadian imports. His comments were first reported by the Toronto Star, which said they were mistakenly carried by a loudspeaker. Trump has [Read more]

Canada could face long-term political challenges with the United States even if it manages to avert U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday. Trump on Monday said he would delay the imposition of tariffs on Canadian exports by 30 days in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement, in particular cracking down on fentanyl smuggling. Trudeau said Ottawa's immediate challenge was to persuade Washington that Canada was doing all [Read more]

Oil prices rose marginally in Asian trade on Friday but were on track for a third straight week of decline, hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump's renewed trade war on China and threats of tariff hikes on other countries. Brent crude futures rose 32 cents to $74.61 a barrel by 0500 GMT, but were poised to fall 2.8% this week. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 24 cents at $70.85 a barrel, down about 2.3% on a weekly basis. "Oil prices saw some stability return this morning [Read more]

The discount of Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude to the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) narrowed slightly on Thursday: * WCS for March delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $13.95 a barrel under WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, having ended at a $14 discount on Wednesday. * Canadian heavy crude prices have held up "remarkably well" in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs plan, TD Cowen said in an analyst note. * Investors [Read more]