Phillips 66PSXCOMMENTApr 18, 2013Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 10, 2026. Market Open.
Warren Buffett has been picking away at this. It is very difficult to build a refinery. There is a limited number of competitors, so they are well situated. The drawback is that you are beholden to crack spreads, basically the value of all the different components of a barrel of oil after it has been refined. In the past couple of years, it has been a very, very good business, but it is a cyclical business. The ways the composition of crude oil is coming to refineries is changing. He would prefer going to where the greatest value is, which is going to be the crude producers.
This has been on an unbelievable tear. US energy stocks have done way better than Canadian producers. Everybody’s worried about the heavy oil differentials and the Keystone. Maybe it’s time to switch to a Canadian.