#trade

What are the chances that we can trade severance for extended employment. I need it for my H1 process.

i see there’s another trade show in philly —/ do people actually still go to these ?

Curious on what base and bonus structure looks like?

Tracy honey - what we doing grl??????

Intel shares going to 70s-80s. Who going to take profit when the insider trading open ?

Phillips 66 owns a refining system that should be capable of delivering durable, peer-leading returns. The assets are advantaged, the footprint is diverse, and the workforce is experienced. Yet over the past several years, refining has remained a primary source of earnings volatility and inconsistent performance, rather than a stabilizing value engine.

That outcome ultimately sits with leadership.

Under Rich Harbison, Phillips 66 refining has not consistently translated operational capability into shareholder value. While individual sites often perform well, the system as a whole has struggled to demonstrate sustained margin capture or downside protection relative to best-in-class peers such as Valero.

This is not simply an operational issue—it is a commercial and leadership failure.

Phillips 66 frequently points to favorable market cracks and commercial optionality as evidence that refining should perform well. But market cracks do not create value on their own. Value is created when trading, optimization, and asset operations work together to capture those signals consistently and manage volatility when conditions turn.

That responsibility extends beyond refining leadership to the commercial organization.

Under Brian Mandell and Mark Hughes, Phillips 66 has expanded its commercial and trading footprint and repeatedly described it as a differentiator. The implication is clear: stronger trading capability should enhance margin capture and smooth earnings.

The results do not support that claim.

Despite periods of attractive market cracks, Phillips 66 has failed to consistently convert market structure into superior refining returns. Upside capture has been uneven. Downside exposure has been abrupt. Trading appears unable to reliably translate market opportunity into durable value at the enterprise level.

When trading cannot deliver the value implied by the market environment, it ceases to be a hedge or differentiator and becomes just another source of noise layered onto an already volatile business.

This raises uncomfortable questions about focus and accountability.

Valero’s advantage is not just asset quality—it is clarity. Its leadership team is singularly focused on refining and commercial execution. There are no competing internal priorities, no portfolio narratives to balance, and no ambiguity about what success looks like. That focus shows up in more consistent margin capture and more reliable shareholder outcomes.

Phillips 66, by contrast, splits leadership attention across refining, marketing, a growing trading organization, midstream, and chemicals. In that environment, refining leadership must be forceful and commercial leadership must be exceptional. Instead, the system appears fragmented, with no one clearly accountable for turning market opportunity into sustained returns.

This is not a workforce problem. Refineries run. Traders trade. Commercial teams work hard. The issue is coordination, discipline, and leadership effectiveness at the top.

When refining volatility continues to dominate results, when market cracks fail to translate into value, and when trading is invoked more often as an explanation than as a solution, accountability becomes unavoidable.

Phillips 66 has the assets.
It has the markets.
What it lacks is leadership leverage.

Until refining and commercial leadership are held accountable for profitability, volatility management, and peer-relative capture—not just activity and presence—refining will remain a source of frustration rather than a foundation for shareholder value.

The assets deserve better integration.
Shareholders deserve better outcomes.

https://www.theverge.com/news/831353/intel-tsmc-wei-jen-lo-trade-secrets

After all this, I’m seriously considering going into one of the trades. Lots of work available if you’re reliable and show up ready to work

LONDON, Sept 10 — ExxonMobil expects the European Union to sign multi-decade US gas contracts under its pledge to buy billions of dollars of American energy, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The EU in July pledged to buy US$750 billion of US energy by 2028 as part of a sweeping trade pact with Washington.

Exxon and the EU did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Peter Clarke, senior vice president of Exxon’s liquefied natural gas business, told the FT that Europe’s expanding LNG infrastructure made it “logical” to commit to longer-term supply, noting

Exxon sells about 80 per cent of its LNG under such contracts.

Europe is now “the most important market” for US LNG exports, and the next step will be for the continent “to figure out how it supports long-term contracting,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The US supplied 50 per cent of the EU’s liquefied natural gas imports in 2024, along with 17 per cent of oil and 35 per cent of coal, according to Eurostat. Any expansion in energy trade is likely to center on LNG, with the US the world’s top exporter of the fuel.

“We have seen in the data quite a big increase in LNG imports to Europe, year on year, it’s up about 20 per cent,” Clarke told FT, adding that 55 per cent of the imports were from the United States. — Reuters

https://www.malaymail.com/news/money/2025/09/10/eu-set-to-lock-in-long-term-us-gas-deals-says-exxonmobil/190638

This announcement will mean more layoffs. Brace yourselves we’re in for a rough few months again.