Changes in the way refiners get crude oil will keep prices volatile for the near future, according to speakers at INTL FCStone's Energy Outlook Conference, held in Kansas City earlier this month.

At the conference, a team of industry experts discussed key U.S. and global supply and demand issues for energy products. Presentations looked at shale oil, conditions for Balkan supplies, market trends in renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel, the impact of current policies of the Federal Reserve Bank and hedge accounting.

“There will be many changes as refiners find ways to gain access to less expensive crudes and more products are exported,” summarized James Burr, vice president Energy Products for FCStone LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of INTL FCStone Inc., a Fortune 500 firm that offers risk management for the volatile worldwide environment.

“U.S. production is reaching levels not seen since the early 1980s, but as refining capacity has consolidated, every refinery problem has greater impact. As U.S. production increases, the markets remain constrained by refining capacity, weather, world economies, international political unrest and other factors; these will always be there to buoy the market.”

Speakers included executives from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, OPIS, Fundamental Petroleum Trends and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

INTL FCStone offers a series of conferences in a wide variety of industries, including its 2013 Outlook Conference in Chicago, June 20 and 21, which focuses on the dairy industry, including the impact of energy issues. FCStone LLC will be holding a Basic Energy Hedging School in Nashville the week of July 22.

INTL FCStone provides execution and advisory services in commodities, currencies and international securities. INTL's businesses, which include the commodities advisory and transaction execution firm FCStone Group, serve more than 20,000 customers in more than 100 countries through a network of offices in 12 countries around the world.