PBF Swings to Profit as Refining Margins Expand
Second-quarter revenue rose 56% to $11.68 billion as refinery throughput increased.
The refiner PBF Energy (PBF) swung to adjusted earnings of $753.1 million, or $6.22 a share, from a loss of $118.5 million, or $1.03 a share, a year earlier.
The turnaround reflected wider refining margins and increased output. Gross refining margin excluding special items expanded to $23.40 a barrel from $8.38, while production rose 5.6% to 893,500 barrels a day. Refining operating expense held nearly flat at $8.00 a barrel despite the higher throughput.
Revenue rose 56% from $7.48 billion, and net income attributable to PBF reached $906.4 million, or $7.54 a diluted share, compared with a loss of $5.2 million, or $0.05 a share, a year earlier. Income from operations increased to $1.27 billion from $43.0 million, while adjusted EBITDA climbed to $1.24 billion from $69.5 million.
The West Coast drove the operating improvement after the Martinez refinery returned to full operations in May. Throughput there jumped 33% to 269,900 barrels a day, while gross refining margin excluding special items more than tripled to $30.16 a barrel and operating expense fell to $11.58 a barrel.
Unplanned work at Toledo weighed on the Mid-Continent, where throughput fell 19% to 130,900 barrels a day and operating expense increased to $7.27 a barrel. The region’s gross refining margin excluding special items still nearly doubled to $20.13 a barrel. The Refinery Business Improvement program delivered more than $230 million of run-rate cost improvements in 2025 and is targeting more than $350 million by the end of 2026.
PBF forecasts third-quarter throughput of 900,000 to 960,000 barrels a day, including 270,000 to 290,000 on the West Coast. Renewable-diesel production, which averaged about 15,100 barrels a day in the second quarter following an April catalyst change, is expected to rise to about 18,000 to 20,000 barrels a day.
The company reduced its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to $825 million to $875 million, excluding the Martinez rebuild, after rescheduling several refinery turnarounds. PBF also cut net debt more than 62% during the quarter to $855 million after receiving a fifth $250 million Martinez-fire insurance installment, bringing cumulative unallocated reimbursements to $1.25 billion.