Dear IT Help Desk,

Hello,

Just now I attempted (and was blocked) from doing a Google search on “refinery crack spreads”, a measure of the gross margin experienced by oil refiners, in order to inform an assumption about a trade counterparty’s high pressure steam demand from a cogeneration plant whose capacity we are trying to rehedge and refinance. (The counterparty is one of said refiners).

I’m fairly certain I understand why I’m being blocked on this search; fyi they are called “crack spreads” because they refer to a refinery's catalytic cracker, which helps turn oil into gasoline. The refiner has a daily call option on the steam produced by the plant---steam which is used to facilitate the crack--so this research is non-trivial.

Thus, I was hoping that in this particular case the restriction on “crack spreads” be lifted.

Thanks,

Michael Pemulis
Corporate Finance
-----
--- Texas Ave., Ste. ----
Houston, Texas 77002

p.s. I promise not to use the results of this search to buy any crack.