Gasoline Cracks Seeing Some Support after Four Week Decline

Gasoline cracks have seen some support since mid last week after a nearly four week decline driven by weak demand amid high US pump prices after the end of the peak summer season.

• Last week US gasoline demand rose for the third week and by 1.8% from the prior week and was 3.4% above the average of the last four weeks according to the latest GasBuddy data. The increase comes after EIA data for the week to 29 Sep showed four week average US gasoline demand fell to the lowest since mid-February and the lowest for this time of year since 1997.
• “Gasoline has become a surplus byproduct of refiners” in the US and Europe, said Mark Williams at Wood Mackenzie. “Higher pump prices erode discretionary travel and we move into the darker winter months,” he said as annual gasoline demand growth in OECD Europe disappears this quarter.
• Rising production in the Middle East, collapsing demand in Nigeria due to subsidy removal, and an expected decrease in Brazil’s imports due to ethanol blending is adding to the downside pressure according to Ines Goncalves at Kpler.
• Global diesel and gasoline liftings remain above range in September despite the global refinery turnarounds according to Kpler. Americas East Coast gasoline imports fall in line with seasonal trend for the US Atlantic Coast but carry on moving upwards for Latin America.
  • RBOB NOV 23 up 3% at 2.26$/gal
  • EU Gasoline-Brent up 0$/bbl at 5.7$/bbl
  • US gasoline crack down -0.1$/bbl at 9.15$/bbl