Refiners have been cutting back on gasoline production because of lousy refining margins. Refinery utilization rates are running below 90%, which poses a potential danger if Gustav ends up posing a real threat. Back in 2005, following Katrina, refinery utilization rates dropped almost 10 percentage points. But they started at 97% - much higher than where rates are currently. Absent a real threat from Gustav, gasoline supplies are more than adequate around the country. Current stocks are on par with where they stood three years ago ahead of Katrina. National gasoline stocks are just over 195 million bbl and they did drop for the week. Inventories surpass year-ago levels by almost 3 million bbl.
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