A slip in gasoline and diesel demand represented no surprise in last week's DOE report, but the slide of 734,000 b/d in refinery input was not expected. It suggested that the 2008 refinery turnaround season has seen an early launch, particularly at the U.S. Gulf Coast.The lower runs combined with a spurt of crude imports (some no doubt due to delayed tankers arriving in the last EIA window) and helped push U.S. crude inventories up by 4.3 million bbl.
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