Gasoline Cracks Rise as Diesel Eases Back from Previous Gains

Diesel crack spreads are easing back slightly today after a rally this week with a build in API oil product stocks data last night weighed against rising US refinery outages and cold weather in US.

• Concern for possible Polar Vortex have fuelled a rally in Great Lakes gasoline and diesel prices yesterday according to Tom Kloza from OPIS. A possible 4mb/d of US refining capacity could be impacted by severe the cold front.
• Gasoline cracks are rising today with the increase in refinery outages as a Bloomberg survey for EIA data suggests US refinery utilisation fell by 0.87% last week. Gasoline cracks however remain low due to weak seasonal demand and healthy storage levels.
• The build in API oil product inventories follows on from the large build seen in EIA data released last week although a Bloomberg survey suggest slightly smaller builds in the data due out later today.
• A rare US gasoline cargo was headed for Australia on Wednesday, amid lower prices due to a supply glut on the US Gulf Coast while US gasoline imports from Europe fell to the lowest in more than three years last week.
  • US 321 crack up 0.2$/bbl at 23.33$/bbl
  • US gasoline crack up 0.5$/bbl at 15.61$/bbl
  • US ULSD crack down -0.2$/bbl at 38.76$/bbl
  • EU Gasoline-Brent up 0.2$/bbl at 9.7$/bbl
  • EU Gasoil-Brent down -0.2$/bbl at 24$/bbl