美国炼油厂大幅削减汽油产量以应对封锁

据烃加工网站7月2日消息 在最紧张的禁售期，面对前所未有的汽油消费量暴跌，美国炼油厂的应对措施是大幅削减原油进口量，并限制用于提高汽油产量的转化过程。

但在紧急情况下实施的异常操作变化给炼油厂带来了柴油过剩的问题，这仍在拖累全球柴油价格，并将在未来几个月内被淘汰。

美国能源信息署周二发表的《石油供应月刊》首次披露了此次冲击的规模以及炼油厂为应对危机而进行的工艺调整。

所有三种主要燃料的消费量在4月份大幅下降，但受影响最大的是喷气燃料（与去年同期相比下降了61%）和汽油（37%），而馏分燃料油（12%）的消费量则要小得多。

面对汽油需求的急剧下降，炼油厂将原油和其他投入到蒸馏装置中的产量削减到其最大产能的70%，而一年前这一比例几乎是89%。

更为重要的是，他们大幅削减了进入下游转化装置（包括催化裂化装置和重整装置）的半精炼蒸馏油流量，这些装置通常会将更多燃料油升级为汽油和喷气燃料。

4月份，他们的催化裂化装置的开工率仅为其产能的59%，而去年同期为81%。加氢裂化装置的使用率从71%下降到56%；催化重整从80%下降到61%。

吴恒磊 编译自 烃加工

原文如下：

U.S. refiners slashed gasoline output in response to lockdown

Faced with an unprecedented collapse in gasoline consumption during the most intense period of lockdown, U.S. refiners responded by slashing crude intake and curbing conversion processes used to boost gasoline yields.

But the extraordinary operating changes introduced during the emergency left refiners with a legacy of too much diesel, which is still weighing down diesel prices worldwide, and will have to be eliminated over the next few months.

The scale of the shock and the shift in refinery processes to cope with it were revealed for the first time on Tuesday with the publication of “Petroleum Supply Monthly” by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Consumption of all three major fuels fell sharply in April, the most recent month for which data is available, but the hit was greatest for jet (down 61% compared with a year earlier) and gasoline (37%) and much smaller for distillate fuel oil (12%).

Faced with a collapse in the demand for gasoline, refineries cut the volume of crude and other inputs fed into their distillation units to just 70% of their maximum capacity compared with almost 89% a year earlier.

More importantly, they slashed the flow of semi-refined distilled oil into downstream conversion units, including catalytic crackers and reformers, that would normally upgrade more fuel oil into gasoline and jet fuel.

In April, their catalytic crackers were operated at just 59% of their capacity compared with 81% a year earlier. Hydrocracker usage was down to 56% from 71%. And catalytic reformers were down to 61% from 80%.