Recent times have been extremely tough for the refining sector worldwide. Europe’s largest independent refiner, Petroplus, filed for bankruptcy in January, brought down by a combination of weak margins, high crude prices and tight credit. In the US, refiners on the east and west coasts – which lack access to the cheap oil from the mid-continent, and must pay lofty Brent-linked prices for their crude – face a similar crunch. Three refineries in the Philadelphia area, owned by Sunoco and