The world’s top oil companies can expect only limited solace from refining for the rest of the year, even as the often-troubled segment proved valuable in the face of sinking oil prices. Overcapacity in the sector previously made it the bane of integrated oil majors such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Total and Eni. But the situation was reversed by weak crude prices, so that combined profits for the oil majors from refining and trading represented 60 percent of total earnings in the first quarter of 2015, compared with 18 percent last year, according to Reuters calculations. In contrast, companies without refining divisions felt the brunt of the oil price collapse, with Norway’s Statoil for instance swinging to surprise net loss. Refining and trading is now expected to cushion companies’ results in the second quarter, albeit less so after oil prices gained more […]