Valero Energy’s deal this week to sell a Louisiana refinery at a lukewarm price highlights the refining industry’s margin troubles, but it also signals that financing may be more readily available for deals in the booming energy and commodities sector than for takeovers within other segments of the economy.

Alon, a subsidiary of Alon Israel Oil, has agreed to pay $333m for one of a handful of crude oil refineries Valero has put on the auction block.