Oil Products End of Day Summary: Gasoline Crack Rebounds

Gasoline cracks have rebounded into gains today amid indications of stronger US demand. Better economic data and a rebound in light vehicle sales will also help shore up the demand outlook.

• US gasoline crack up 1$/bbl at 24.77$/bbl
• US ULSD crack down 0.2$/bbl at 23.56$/bbl
• GasBuddy models U.S. gasoline demand in the latest weekly data (Sun-Sat) at 9.28mn bpd, the highest level of the year so far in an otherwise lackluster summer driving season.
• US storage changes according to Reuters survey: Gasoline -1.9m bbl, Distillates + 0.2m bbl.
• Mexico’s Pemex says its Dos Bocas refinery will reach full capacity of 340k b/d by August 21.
• The European diesel market has been remarkably weak in recent months, demonstrated by the current contango structure, Platts said in its Oil Markets Podcast.
• The US has effectively replaced Saudi Arabia as the marginal supplier to Europe over the past year, Platts said in its Oil Markets Podcast.
• Russian refinery processing in July was close to its highest since the start of the year as summer maintenance wound down.
• Motiva began restarting its 81,000-bpd gasoline producing FCC on Sunday morning at its 626,000 bpd Port Arthur refinery, Texas according to Reuters sources.
• CDU capacity utilisation rates at China’s state-owned refineries are expected to rise further in the week to Aug. 8, according to OilChem,
• China’s exports of refined products totalled 2.55m mt in July, according to OilChem.
• Japan’s Cosmo Energy has restarted the 75kbpd No.1 crude distillation unit at its Chiba refinery near Tokyo on August 4: Bloomberg
• Gasoline imports to Japan are expected to remain high through August as refineries undergo planned maintenance, according to Reuters sources.
• Global airline passenger capacity is set to decline to 122.83m seats in the seven days commencing from Aug. 05, OAG said.