US coke output falls in 2024

US marketable coke production fell by 3pc in 2024 from the prior year as coke output declined in every region except the east coast.

The US produced about 39.3mn t of coke in 2024, down from 40.7mn t produced a year earlier, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), even as US refinery utilisation averaged 91pc in 2024, slightly up from an average of 90pc in 2023.

Coke production likely dropped despite higher utilisation because a California refinery permanently closed in February. Unplanned outages at some facilities in the midcontinent and Rocky Mountain region also lowered output last year.

In December, US coke output totalled 3.5mn t, nearly flat to the same month in 2023. Total US refinery utilisation was flat on the year in December at 93pc.

The US west coast refining region led declines in coke production in 2024, down by 10pc to 5.6mn t. US independent refiner Phillips 66's 115,000 b/d Rodeo, California, refinery ceased crude processing in February 2024, which weighed on the region's coke output during the year.

Average refinery utilisation in this region was up by 3pc to 92pc, likely because other refineries increased rates following the Rodeo shutdown.

US west coast coke production was also down in December, falling by 9pc to 459,000t from a year earlier, while refinery utilisation remained flat at 91pc from a year earlier.

Coke production also fell significantly in the US midcontinent, falling by 5pc to 8.7mn t last year from 2023. Average monthly refinery utilisation declined by 1pc to 91pc in 2024 from the prior year. BP's 435,000 b/d Whiting, Indiana, refinery shut down operations for six weeks after a weather-related power outage in early February, and ExxonMobil's 252,000 b/d Joliet refinery in Channahon, Illinois, also had an extended outage and multiple process upsets following severe weather in mid-July. Cenovus also had unplanned maintenance at its Ohio refineries last summer.

Midcontinent output was also down in December, falling by 5pc to about 800,000t from a year earlier. Refinery utilisation was down by nearly 2 percentage points to 93pc on the year.

Production in the Rocky Mountains dropped to 916,200t last year from about 1mnt in 2023. This was despite average refinery utilisation in the Rocky Mountains increasing by nearly 4pc to 92pc in 2024. A pair of Montana refineries had coker outages in July and August, according to market participants, and HF Sinclair had a 40-day turnaround at its 75,000 b/d Sinclair, Wyoming, refinery in the fourth quarter of 2024, with work focused on the plant's coker unit. The company's 55,000 b/d Salt Lake City, Utah, refinery, which produces anode-grade coke, was also temporarily down in mid-October after a power outage.

In December, coke output in the Rocky Mountains rose by 5pc to 90,900t on the year, while refinery utilisation fell by 1 percentage point to 88pc.

Output on the US Gulf coast, the country's largest coke producing region, remained fairly flat to the prior year at 23.6mn t. This was down by just 1pc from 2023. Production in the Texas inland refining region grew by 53pc on the year in 2024, which partly offset declines across the US Gulf coast's other refining regions. Output in the Louisiana-Arkansas refining region declined the most, falling by 29pc on the year.

Average refinery utilisation remained flat at 91pc in the US Gulf coast last year.

US Gulf coast coke output rose by 3pc to 2.1mn t in December from a year earlier, and refinery utilisation increased by 1 percentage point to 95pc.

The US east coast was the only region that lifted output during the year. Coke production rose by 18pc to 512,500t. But this is not one of the country's largest coke producing regions. Refinery utilisation on the east coast averaged 85pc in 2024, unchanged from 2023.

In December, coke production in this region also rose slightly to 49,000t, even as refinery utilisation fell by 6 percentage points on the year to 82pc.

By Hadley Medlock