Sliding dollar dents earnings of Caltex refineries OIL refiner and fuel marketer Caltex Australia released downbeat first-half guidance last night, declaring the sliding dollar and a pipeline outage at the Kurnell refinery would deliver a $50 million loss for its refining business. Caltex said it would declare a first-half net profit after tax of between $180m and $200m, up from $167m last year.