Oil Products Summary at European Close: Cracks Edge Down

US diesel cracks have slipped on the day and are around 2% down since the start of the week. The gradual return of some US refineries impacted by cold weather and rising stocks is likely adding downside. Distillates four-week demand is the lowest since Jul 2020.

• US gasoline crack down -0.1$/bbl at 17.26$/bbl
• US ULSD crack down -0.2$/bbl at 38.82$/bbl
• Severe winter weather has shut about 15% of the US Gulf Coast’s oil-refining capacity, according to Bloomberg.
• The downturn in global oil demand is more notable in the West than the East of Suez market with some refineries already reducing runs according to Vortexa.
• Exxon Mobil is overhauling the 65kbpd hydrocracker and the 75kbpd reformer at its 619.024kbpd Beaumont refinery in Texas, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
• The 238kb/d Total Port Arthur refinery in Texas remained shut on Jan 18 following a plant-wide power outage on Jan 16 according to Reuters sources.
• NORSI, Russia’s fourth largest oil refinery with a capacity of around 340k b/d, is likely to restore over 70% of its gasoline production capacity in the next few days, sources told Reuters and cited by Zawya.
• Total oil and products deliveries rose 5.8% y/y to 31.1m b/d, while supply was up 10% to 29.7m b/d, API monthly data showed. Gasoline demand +2.2% y/y to 8.8m b/d
• Chinese diesel and gasoline production fell in December year on year but rose from November levels according to data from China’s statistics bureau.