Fitch: Changing Crude Supply Trends May Help European Refiners

Changes in global oil supply trends, including high Russian production, the expected renewal of Iranian heavy crude exports and the pressure on US shale oil output, may benefit European refiners, Fitch Ratings says. These trends could support a wider price differential between the Brent and Urals benchmarks and a narrower differential between Brent and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark, reducing the competitive advantage US refiners have over their European rivals.

The Brent-Urals differential rose above USD3.5/bbl in October from USD1-USD2/bbl earlier this year. The widening gap reflects higher availability of Russian crude in the Baltic Sea region as production in Russia reached post-Soviet highs. Saudi crude oil deliveries to Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen (PKN) and Preem in early November might have also contributed to the widening Urals discount.

Renewed supplies of predominantly lower quality Iranian crude following the expected sanctions relief in 2016 should result in greater competition between sour crude oil types. This is likely to support further widening of the Brent-Urals differential, benefitting Central European and some Mediterranean refiners.

We believe that MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas and PKN are best placed in our portfolio to benefit as they primarily use Russian crude oil in their refineries. Tupras, with its proximity to the Bosphorus strait, has access to a wide variety of crude types and will likely benefit from both the wider Brent-Urals differential and improved access and pricing of Iranian crude.

Mediterranean refiners such as Tupras were obliged to reduce purchases of favourably priced Iranian crude when sanctions against Iran were introduced in 2012. Once the sanctions are lifted, we expect a gradual ramp-up in Iranian crude output starting from the second half of 2016. This suggests widening Brent-Iranian oil differentials will be more pronounced from 2017.

Crude oil constitutes the largest share of refineries' costs and the ability to source crude at lower prices therefore has a significant effect on profitability and competitiveness. Western European refiners are better placed to use lighter Brent oil, while CEE companies have traditionally relied on heavier Russian crude.

In recent years, the competition from the US refineries in Europe intensified as they had access to oil at a significant discount to Brent. However the differential between WTI and Brent crude has now fallen to around USD2.5/bbl from USD8-USD15/bbl between September 2013 and June 2014 when US imports were at their peak. After some delay US shale oil supply has fallen and we expect the decline to be more pronounced from next year contributing to a narrower differential to Brent in the medium term.

Narrower WTI-Brent differentials will not be enough to entirely wipe out the competitive advantage of the US refiners that also benefit from low natural gas prices. But we think the narrower differential coupled with lower natural gas prices in Europe and dollar appreciation against the euro will improve competitiveness of European refiners.