This week, AFPM joined API and industry associations representing fuel retailers, gasoline marketers, convenience stores and tank truck carriers to field questions from the media about the ongoing fuel distribution challenges resulting from the Colonial Pipeline shutdown.
Restricting exports would be a major unforced error for the President, tightening global fuel supplies, throttling U.S. fuel production and increasing costs for American consumers. Likewise, imposing product inventory requirements boils down to siphoning gasoline and diesel into storage, and away from consumers.
A legal representative for numerous U.S. small refineries has submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency opposing calls for the agency to share confidential business information of small refineries with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
Oil markets are famously sensitive to uncertainty. Global conflict can send prices higher on concerns that crude oil supplies could be disrupted. This is playing out in response to Russia’s unprovoked acts of war against Ukraine. Russia is a major supplier of crude oil and other energy products globally, though less so in the United States. In recent days, many market participants have committed to stop purchasing Russian oil. Shipping companies are concerned about loading cargoes from Russia and some shippers are finding the cost associated with such cargoes too high. These moves are tightening an already tight market.
One key component called for in nearly every recipe for clean, low-sulfur gasoline is alkylate. Alkylate is high in octane, low in sulfur and has zero aromatics which all help to lower vehicle emissions and tailpipe pollution.
It’s been two and a half years since Congress granted the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program long-term authorization.
By an act of Congress and with the stroke of a pen, the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) programs will continue to receive funding for the next 14 months.
In late July, Congress allowed a valuable program that enhances security at chemical facilities across the country to expire. The program is called the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), and its primary mission is to protect chemical facilities from potential terror threats by addressing a wide range of possible vulnerabilities, including cyberattacks.
In today’s world of cyber attacks against companies, the idea of sharing information between companies on cyber developments and incidents is becoming more critical.
U.S. fuel and petrochemical manufacturers are committed to doing their part to limit the spread of COVID-19 while maintaining the core services and functions our nation requires daily.