Butane
Butane is a safe, clean-burning energy source. When compared to other fuel alternatives such as oil, gasoline, diesel or kerosene, butane contains significantly less greenhouse gas emissions when burned. This is due to its naturally low carbon content. As an added safety benefit, butane easily liquifies, making it simple to contain and therefore, transport. Throughout use, butane has a low impact on the environment, as it does not alter the integrity of the ozone layer. Its purest form, isobutane, has effectively replaced ozone-depleting gases, like halomethanes, in everyday use.
Hahn, E. (2019). Liquified Petroleum Gas
Crude & Gasoline Blending/Petrochemical Services
Butane plays a crucial role in crude oil and gasoline blending. It is commonly used as a feedstock for crude oil blending. It provides facilities and pipelines the ability to lighten crude oil streams and help reduce the viscosity of the oil to improve transport efficiency. Butane can be used to blend into crude oil year round, but is in slightly higher demand in winter months due to pipeline vapor pressure restrictions increasing in the colder months of the year. With butane often trading at a discount to crude oil, it allows crude oil blenders the ability to use it as a feedstock to reduce the cost of the overall blend, while keeping the crude oil stream within the regulated specifications.
Butane is also a sought after feedstock for gasoline blending due to its high vapor pressure. Refineries and gasoline blenders will use butane to increase RVP in colder months of the year. As a result of its heavy winter usage it is common to see butane stored during the summer months, in anticipation of the winter blending seasons. This blending process is an essential part of the gasoline value change. Since butane can be purchased at a discount to gasoline, it can provide a reliable and cost effective feedstock for the gasoline blend.
Synthetic materials play an important role in our society and economy. Petrochemicals have numerous uses in everyday life as they are used in the various manufacturing processes of plastics, medicines, food preservatives, cosmetics, and fertilizers. Occidental provides its Petrochemical customers with reliable supply and dependable logistics solutions.
Our marketers have years of experience shipping butane and other related commodities across the continent by truck, rail, pipe and more. We also offer quick turnaround solutions for off-spec materials. Reach out to our marketers to learn more.
Cameron Jackson
Cameron specializes in Western Canadian and select United States butane, condensate and crude markets. He manages cavern, rail and truck supply into many demand regions throughout North America. In addition to this, he has an extensive background in crude blending an optimization throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
cjackson@occenergy.com
Mike Mastel
Mike currently markets and trades butane in the United States and Canada. He provides egress for NGL producers via rail cars and trucks, while maintaining relationships in North America with the various users of butane (crude oil refineries, gasoline blenders & petrochemical producers). In addition, Mike also has experience in financial hedging of NGLs and sales/supply of propane.
mmastel@occenergy.com
Derek Campbell
Derek markets all butane in Western Canada. This includes both rail and truck marketing solutions. Additionally, he assists in olefin and condensate strategy. He works to optimize all shipments across the continent to create tailored solutions to each customer’s needs. Derek consistently provides excellent customer service and competitive pricing.
dcampbell@occenergy.com
Deniz Palazzo
Deniz specializes in C4, C5, and condensate markets in the US and Canada. Formerly a large buyer into Canadian diluent markets and New York Harbor blending, Deniz specializes in optimizing blends, producer solutions, and providing strong netbacks. Deniz’s experience has included managing multi-year keep drys with producers and fractionators. She works with customers to buy and supply volume on rail, truck, pipe, and barge.
dpalazzo@occenergy.com
Nathanael Darrell
Nathanael markets Western Canadian condensate, and crude via truck, pipeline, and rail. His experience in the producer and midstream space has provided him with an extensive knowledge of all crude and condensate grades across Western Canada, and the specific terminals that have access to each grade. Nathanael can assist with netback optimization, quality optimization for equalized streams, and sourcing various types of diluent for heavy crude blending requirements.
ndarrell@occenergy.com