Oil Products Summary at European Close: Diesel Cracks Down on Week

US diesel crack spreads have found some support today but are set for a 6.5% decline on the week amid concerns for weak demand and a recovery in US refinery utilisation.

• US gasoline crack up 1.6$/bbl at 33.3$/bbl
• US ULSD crack up 0.5$/bbl at 30.43$/bbl
• Recent Ukraine drone attacks on Russian refineries could have a more substantial impact than attacks earlier this year with primary processing capacity impacted according to Wood Mackenzie on March 21.
• Russian refinery throughput from March 13-20 fell by 7.5% vs March 1-14, dropping to 5 mn bpd according to Reuters.
• Russian oil processing rates fell to 5.03mbpd between 14-20 March, down by more than 400kbpd from the average first 13 days in March, and the lowest weekly level in ten months.
• Russian diesel supply is starting to pile up on tankers, with an average of 6.2mn barrels of diesel floating in the ten days to 17 March, Kpler data showed, the highest since 2017.
• Russia’s stocks of diesel and gasoline have risen in March: Russian Ministry of Energy.
• Russian refines have been instructed to ensure “uninterrupted” flows of petroleum products: Deputy PM Alexander Novak.
• Chinese independent refineries gasoline and gasoil production was at a three year high in Q1 2024: OilChem.
• ExxonMobil’s Gravechon refinery in France is running at 50% after a fire last week according to Exxon France CEO.
• Peak European refinery offline maintenance of the current season is forecast at 1.2mn bpd next month according to Kpler.
• US REFINERY MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE - https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/files/60482/MNI%20US%20Refinery%20Maintenance%20Schedule.pdf