U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 4.3 million bbl last week, but some of the data provoked raised eyebrows. Particularly perplexing was a drop in Gulf Coast gasoline stocks of 4 million bbl and an increase in Gulf Coast distillate stocks of 3.5 million bbl. Refiners don't have the agility to tweak yields as much as the data implies. They've been maximizing output of distillate for months and minimizing production of gasoline. The disparate figures provoke concerns that some barrels may have been misreported. Other elements of the report confirm anecdotal evidence heard in markets for some time. Refiners trimmed input of crude and feedstock by 25,000 b/d nationwide with most of the cutback witnessed in the Midwest. EIA quietly revised the U.S. refining capacity threshold higher, putting it at 17.606 million b/d, so that means some 2.295 million bbl of unused refining capacity is currently on the shelf.
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