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PBF Energy reports third consecutive quarter loss due to falling margins

PBF Energy reported a third consecutive quarter loss on Thursday as the U.S. refining company was hit by a decline of margins.

The Parsippany refiner in New Jersey reported a fourth-quarter loss of $289.3 millions, or $2.54 a share. This was higher than the loss of 48.4 million dollars, or $0.40 if you look at it compared to a year ago.

The margins on global refining have fallen in the past year due to the weaker economy and the opening of several refineries in Asia and Africa.

U.S. refinery profit margins measured by the 3-2-1 Crack Spread In the quarter of October-December, this average fell by nearly 25% from a year ago.

Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum, three of the biggest rivals in the industry, all suffered a setback to their results due to low margins. They still performed better than analyst's expectations.

PBF Energy reported that its gross refining margin for the fourth quarter was $3.89 a barrel, down from $1.04 a barrel a year ago.

Matt Lucey, CEO of PBF Energy, said that global refining markets are structurally tight. He added that capacity rationalization will outweigh new refinery construction.

The company reported that its crude oil and raw materials throughput fell to 862,200 barrels per day (bpd) in the quarter under review from 878 200 bpd one year ago.

PBF Energy said that the timing and scope of the planned turnaround at Martinez refinery, California could be affected by a fire on February 1.

The company stated that "at this time it is not possible to estimate the cost of repair and the duration of the shutdown due to the incident."

According to data compiled and analyzed by LSEG, on an adjusted basis the company lost $2.82 a share in the fourth-quarter, compared to estimates of a $2.81 loss. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

(source: Reuters)