PSXPhillips 66

Phillips 66 refines crude, markets fuel and owns pipeline interests — three businesses with different sensitivity to the commodity price.

Refining earns on the gap between crude and fuel prices rather than on crude itself, so cheap feedstock is a benefit rather than a problem. Marketing — filling stations and wholesale — gives steady income loosely tied to prices. The midstream arm charges a throughput tariff and works like a toll road.

That combination makes results swing less than a pure refiner's while making them less transparent: the investor must work out which segment produced the profit. A chemicals joint venture adds a fourth cycle, tied to polymer prices.

Activist pressure in recent years has pushed for a simpler structure and disposal of non-core parts. Risks are the industry's: refinery outages, fuel regulation and debt service costs. The company pays a dividend and buys back stock actively.