Earnings up for owner of oil refinery, Hele gas

Houston-based Par Pacific Holdings Inc., owner of Hawaii’s largest oil refinery and 128 gas stations in the state, said it earned nearly $14 million in the fourth quarter after losing $67 million in the year- earlier period.

The energy and infrastructure business reported Wednesday that it had net income of $13.7 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a loss of $66.8 million, or $1.72 a share, during the final three months of 2015.

Last quarter didn’t pull the company out of the red for the year, however.

Par Pacific reported a loss of $45.8 million, or $1.08 a share, for 2016, compared with a loss of $39.9 million, or $1.06 a share, the previous year.

The company’s refining segment had operating income of $27.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, up from an operating loss of $6.4 million in the year-earlier quarter.

William Pate, Par Pacific’s president and CEO, said the company’s Hawaii business contributed to the quarter’s results.

“Our Hawaii operations had particularly strong results in the fourth quarter due to a buoyant market and solid management execution,” Pate said in the earnings call.

In the fourth quarter, the Hawaii refinery’s throughput, or total volume of crude oil available for purchase, was 75,000 barrels a day, down from 80,000 for the same period in 2015. Production costs were lower. Par Pacific said its Hawaii production costs dropped to $3.07 per throughput barrel in the fourth quarter of 2016, compared with $3.51 per throughput barrel in the same period in 2015.

Par Hawaii acquired the 94,000-barrel Tesoro refinery in Kapolei in September 2013. In April 2015, the company bought Kokooha Investments, the holding company that runs Mid Pac Petroleum, the exclusive marketer of the 76 brand in Hawaii.

In July, Par Pacific announced it would rebrand 37 local gas stations. Some 25 Tesoro-branded stations and 12 76-branded stations were converted to Hele stations. It cost roughly $4 million to rebrand.

“Our Hawaii retail business completed the conversion of 32 retail locations to our new Hele brand, business has been brisk and we had another strong quarter at the pump,” Pate said in the earnings call.

Par Pacific also experienced a narrower equity loss in its natural gas operations in Western Colorado, a business called Laramie Energy LLC. In the fourth quarter, Par lost $7.2 million, compared to an equity loss of $49.9 million in the same period 2015. Par Pacific owns a 42.3 percent stake in Laramie.