Spot product prices mostly climbed in the week to May 29, as the oil futures complex rallied on Friday and flooding in Texas resulted in tightening markets on the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest. Gasoline differentials were buoyed following the release of the US EIA's weekly inventory report on Thursday that showed stocks dropped 3.3MM bbl to 220.6MM bbl, well more than the 0.4MM-bbl draw that analysts had forecasted. Prices and differentials climbed in the Midwest, as regional inventories dropped and buyers sought barrels amid a dearth of sellers. Also, the region accounted for a large chunk of the national stockdraw. On top of production issues at several local refineries, including maintenance and outages at gasoline-making FCCUs, litde product was being pumped into the Midwest from the Gulf Coast, where suppliers were seen holding onto barrels as Texas suffered floods amid severe storms, particularly in the Houston area. However, refining and pipeline infrastructure was not impacted. On the West Coast, however, lackluster demand put downward pressure on prices in California's Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area markets. In the New York Harbor (NYH), a sharp drop in regional inventories injected bullish sentiment. Although, the tightness was attracting additional shipments from Europe that would help cool the market, players said. Gasoline and RBOB prices posted similar increases on the week.
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