Refiner Phillips 66 profit beats as chemicals unit outperforms

(Reuters) – U.S. oil refiner Phillips 66 (N:) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, helped by a 28 percent rise in net income from its chemicals unit.

The refiner’s chemicals joint venture with Chevron Corp (NYSE:) had fully recovered from Hurricane Harvey and contributed to first-quarter earnings, Chief Executive Greg Garland said.

The U.S. shale boom has opened enormous reservoirs of cheap , a raw material for chemicals and plastics. The chemicals unit’s net income rose to $232 million from $181 million.

However, earnings from the company’s main refining business fell nearly 65 percent to $91 million.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.04 per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of 89 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Rival Valero Energy Corp (N:) reported quarterly results on Thursday and attributed its better-than-expected profit to higher refining margins.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.