The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is currently investigating complaints regarding a flaring incident that occurred at Chevron Corp.’s Richmond facility on New Year’s Eve.
According to a post shared on the social media platform X, the Air District received six air quality complaints related to the refinery’s flaring, leading to the launch of an investigation.
Reports by CBS News Bay Area confirm that intermittent flaring occurred at the facility due to a process upset, as stated by a Chevron company spokesperson.
Market Impact
The San Francisco CARBOB spot market experienced significant losses on the first trading day of the year. Barrel prices ranged from 48cts to 31cts above the NYMEX February RBOB contract, indicating a downward trend. By late afternoon, the mean differential had plummeted by 20cts compared to Friday’s closing price. NYMEX also experienced weakness, with the implied price falling by 21.14cts to $2.4049/gal as of 3:43 p.m. ET.
These substantially lower trade levels for S.F. CARBOB follow an increase in basis values last week, which occurred after reported regional refinery upsets and an unannounced agency inspection at PBF’s Martinez refinery in the Bay Area, as previously noted by OPIS.
Reporting by Sydnee Beach; Editing by Bayan Raji
