US Daily Oil Summary: Refiners See Modest Demand Gains

US refiners see modest US demand gains and relatively tight markets in the US for 2024 despite new refining capacity later in the year according to Bloomberg.

• Oil refiner HF Sinclair expects a constrained environment for the rest of 2024 after Q4 profits beat estimates on better-than-expected refining margins and throughput.
• US PADD 3 clean product exports remain strong despite heavy reported maintenance levels according to Vortexa, posting an 11% increase over the first 20 days of Feb vs the seasonal average.
• Seasonal increases in gasoline demand are beginning to show, according to GasBuddy’s Patrick De Haan via X.
• US crude oil inventories are expected to have risen in the week to Feb. 16, according to a WSJ survey.
• Wires carrying comments from US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm stating she, "doesn't want to do anything with replenishing strategic petroleum reserve that would affect oil prices."
• The USD index is down around 0.03% on the day at 1242.31, edging down into losses during US hours, but still within today’s range following the release of the FOM January meeting minutes.
• The FOMC in its January meeting saw rates likely at their peak for this tightening cycle but expressed caution on easing too quickly. In addition, many officials said it would be appropriate to begin in-depth discussions of tapering QT at the March meeting.