Recently completed projects to boost production flexibility at HF Sinclair's 149,000 b/d Puget Sound refinery in Washington state should help address a tightening U.S. West Coast market due to the ongoing Middle East supply crisis, the company said Friday.
A project allowing the Puget Sound refinery to "swing" 7,000 b/d of its production between diesel and jet fuel depending on market conditions was brought online at the end of a Q4 2025 turnaround, Executive Vice President of Commercial Steven Ledbetter told analysts during a call.
"That's paying off greatly, not only to the West Coast, but also into markets in Latin America," Ledbetter said.
In addition, he said the Washington refinery also completed another flexibility project last year allowing it to produce and "swell" the gasoline pool in either making CARB-complied products or selling high-valued unfinished components like alkylate into California which has been more profitable.
Meanwhile, Ledbetter the company continued to evaluate a previously announced refined product pipeline expansion project to deliver fuels to the West Coast markets from its refineries in the Rockies.
HF Sinclair also completed a turnaround at its 41,400 b/d Woods Cross refinery in Utah during Q1, and the company does not have any planned maintenance scheduled until the back end of Q3 for its 165,000 b/d El Dorado refinery in Kansas.
Ledbetter also said it continued to advance a vacuum distillation project at El Dorado to improve product yield and allow an incremental 10,000 b/d of heavy crude into its feedstock mix. That project is expected to come online as part of El Dorado's fall turnaround this year.
HF Sinclair, which also supplies fuel to Sinclair branded gas stations, added 25 Sinclair-branded sites during Q1, with more than 100 sites with contracts signed and expected to come online over the next 6-12 months, Ledbetter said. The company still expects to grow the number of branded sites by about 10% annually, he said.
Since start of the Middle East conflict, HF Sinclair has not faced any crude oil supply challenges because of its access to multiple U.S. oil hubs and the ability to run different grades of crude, from Canadian heavy to Alaskan North Slope, Ledbetter said.
The company -- which operates seven U.S. refineries and supplies fuels to more than 2,000 fuel sites -- swung to a Q1 profit of $650 million from a loss of $2 million in the same quarter last year. During the call, Chief Executive Franklin Myers did not address the company's ongoing management issues after both its former CEO and chief financial officer took leaves of absences during Q1.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Recently completed projects to boost production flexibility at HF Sinclair's 149,000 b/d Puget Sound refinery in Washington state should help address a tightening U.S. West Coast market due to the ongoing Middle East supply crisis, the company said Friday.
A project allowing the Puget Sound refinery to "swing" 7,000 b/d of its production between diesel and jet fuel depending on market conditions was brought online at the end of a Q4 2025 turnaround, Executive Vice President of Commercial Steven Ledbetter told analysts during a call.
"That's paying off greatly, not only to the West Coast, but also into markets in Latin America," Ledbetter said.
In addition, he said the Washington refinery also completed another flexibility project last year allowing it to produce and "swell" the gasoline pool in either making CARB-complied products or selling high-valued unfinished components like alkylate into California which has been more profitable.
Meanwhile, Ledbetter the company continued to evaluate a previously announced refined product pipeline expansion project to deliver fuels to the West Coast markets from its refineries in the Rockies.
HF Sinclair also completed a turnaround at its 41,400 b/d Woods Cross refinery in Utah during Q1, and the company does not have any planned maintenance scheduled until the back end of Q3 for its 165,000 b/d El Dorado refinery in Kansas.
Ledbetter also said it continued to advance a vacuum distillation project at El Dorado to improve product yield and allow an incremental 10,000 b/d of heavy crude into its feedstock mix. That project is expected to come online as part of El Dorado's fall turnaround this year.
HF Sinclair, which also supplies fuel to Sinclair branded gas stations, added 25 Sinclair-branded sites during Q1, with more than 100 sites with contracts signed and expected to come online over the next 6-12 months, Ledbetter said. The company still expects to grow the number of branded sites by about 10% annually, he said.
Since start of the Middle East conflict, HF Sinclair has not faced any crude oil supply challenges because of its access to multiple U.S. oil hubs and the ability to run different grades of crude, from Canadian heavy to Alaskan North Slope, Ledbetter said.
The company -- which operates seven U.S. refineries and supplies fuels to more than 2,000 fuel sites -- swung to a Q1 profit of $650 million from a loss of $2 million in the same quarter last year. During the call, Chief Executive Franklin Myers did not address the company's ongoing management issues after both its former CEO and chief financial officer took leaves of absences during Q1.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 01, 2026 15:46 ET (19:46 GMT)
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