Par Pacific Holdings

Par Pacific earned 353 million dollars this quarter, up about 35 percent from 263 million a year ago. The gap between what crude oil costs and what fuel sells for more than doubled in Montana and Wyoming. In Hawaii it nearly quadrupled, jumping from about 10 dollars to 38 dollars a barrel. For a company valued around 3.6 billion dollars, that's a giant haul for just three months.

The business brought in about 839 million dollars of cash in three months. Par Pacific now holds 731 million dollars in the bank against roughly 505 million in loans, so it has more cash than debt, with 2.4 billion dollars it can tap in total. Selling its 46 percent stake in Laramie Energy should add about 120 million dollars more by year end.

This quarter's windfall came from fuel price gaps two to four times wider than last year. Those gaps move with world events like Middle East conflict and refinery outages, and when they shrink, profits fall just as fast. Hawaii alone took a 52 million dollar hit because rising fuel prices outran the contracts that set its selling prices.

About 187 million dollars of this quarter's profit lift came from a federal waiver that excused its smaller mainland refineries from some clean fuel rules for 2025. Those waivers are decided year by year and aren't guaranteed, so future quarters could look lighter without one. Planned maintenance also cut the Hawaii refinery's output by about 30 percent, which dragged down the pipeline and shipping business too.