Calumet last Wednesday reported a net loss of $116.8 million for the fourth quarter 2015, compared with a loss of $63.5 million in the 2014 fourth quarter. Calumet reported that Specialty products segment gross profit was $74.1 million for the fourth quarter 2015, compared with $105.4 million in the 2014 fourth quarter.
For the full-year 2015, Calumet reported a net loss of $139.4 million compared with a net loss of $112.2 million in 2014.
Specialty products sales volume in the fourth quarter topped 25,500 barrels per day, down slightly from 25,648 bpd the year earlier period. Calumets specialty products segment sales volumes in the fourth quarter included 14,420 bpd of lubricating oils, up significantly from 11,438 bpd the previous year.
Specialty products sales volume in the full year was 25,666 barrels per day, down slightly from 25,863 bpd the year earlier. Calumets specialty products segment sales volumes in the full year included 13,325 bpd of lubricating oils, up significantly from 11,836 bpd the previous year.
Specialty Products segment gross profit per specialty products barrels sold increased to $45.39 versus $41.82 in 2014, driven mainly by lower feedstock costs and record annual sales in the branded- and packaged-product category.
Overall demand for specialty products was essentially flat in the fourth quarter 2015, when compared to the prior year period. Demand for lubricating oils, white oils and packaged and synthetic specialty products remained stable, while solvents demand remains soft due primarily to less activity in the oilfield services industry. Sales of packaged and synthetic specialty products, which include proprietary product lines such as TruFuel and Royal Purple, achieved a new record in 2015.
Tim Go, Chief Executive Officer of Calumet said "Refining system utilization and product sales volumes reached all-time records last year, the combination of which contributed to a significant year-over-year increase in Distributable Cash Flow, excluding special items. Despite challenging market conditions evident during the fourth quarter of 2015, our full-year 2015 results reflect a combination of stable growth in our specialty products segment and continued contributions from our niche, inland fuels refineries, which stand poised to benefit from increased processing of cost advantaged heavy Canadian crude oil during 2016."
"We are pleased to announce that our Montana refinery capacity expansion, San Antonio refinery solvents project and Missouri esters plant capacity expansion have all been completed," continued Go. "The crude oil unit at our Montana refinery is on-stream and is expected to reach 25,000 bpd of production by the end of March 2016, our San Antonio refinery is producing and selling solvents and our Missouri facility is producing and selling esters, post expansion. Collectively, we anticipate these projects will provide significant incremental Adjusted EBITDA for the Partnership over time which, together with a more than 60% year-over-year decline in projected capital spending in 2016, should contribute to improved financial flexibility for Calumet.", said Go.
