Top Stocks To Watch As The U.S. Opens Up To Condensate Exports

This article was first published by Seeking Alpha on January 7, 2015

By Sarfaraz A. Khan. Research Asst. Iffat Zehra

Since 1970s, the U.S. oil companies have been mostly prohibited from exporting locally produced crude oil. The ban was aimed at safeguarding the U.S.'s national interest as a reaction to the Arab oil embargo in that period which undermined crude supplies in the U.S., given the embargo came at a time when U.S. was already struggling with deteriorating oil production.

Oil Price War Is a Gift to Investors in Valero and Other Refiners

This article was originally published by TheStreet on November 4, 2014

By Sarfaraz A. Khan. Research Asst: Brian S.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Deteriorating oil prices threaten the profits of oil producers but, as Valero Energy (VLO)  showed with its third-quarter earnings Tuesday, they can be a boon for refiners.

Oil prices extended their decline on Tuesday, slipping to new multi-year lows on fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter of oil and other related liquids, could be gearing up to compete with U.S. shale oil. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures are hovering around $77 a barrel, down from $80 a barrel when markets closed on Friday.

Why Valero Energy Is a Stock Worth Remembering

This article was originally published by TheStreet on August 23, 2014

By Sarfaraz A. Khan

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Changing market conditions that could affect profitability have made many investors wary of refining stocks. This is particularly true for Valero Energy (VLO_) , the biggest independent player in the industry.

The narrowing spread between the price of Brent and West Texas Intermediary crude has also helped push Valero shares down, by 5.9% in the last two months.

Shrinking Brent-WTI Spread: Why You Should Avoid These Midwest Refiners

From The Motley Fool
By Sarfaraz A. Khan

The Brent crude-West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spread has fallen to its lowest levels in more than two and a half years to $4.31 by the end of first week of June. This after touching this year’s peak of $23.19 in the first quarter, which shows a decline of more than 80%. The spread represents the difference between Europe’s Brent crude and the WTI crude, which trades at the New York Mercantile Exchange. This collapse of the difference between two of the world’s leading-traded crude grades will create problems for some refiners, such as HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO).

The drop in the gap, shown in the picture above, is coming on the back of