Nearly all US spot product prices see another week of improvement

摘要

Of the 16 products covered here, the only decline in outright prices for the week ending Feb. 14 was regular gasoline at the US Gulf Coast, and the drop had more to do with the changeover to a new benchmark contract than with fundamentals. Prices increased despite data from the US EIA indicating gasoline demand (reported as product supplied) fell by 21 IK b/d over the week ending Feb. 7 while demand for middle distillates (excluding jet fuel) declined by 391K b/d on the week. Jet-fuel demand, however, inched up by 7K b/d. Colonial Pipeline Co, notified shippers that space would be allocated for Cycle 14 on Line 3, which delivers mixed refined products to Linden (New Jersey) from Greensboro (North Carolina). US EIA data showed a 0.6-percentage-point increase in refinery utilization during the week to Feb. 7. California prices were pressured on Monday as Chevron brought units back online at its El Segundo refinery. Other refinery shutdowns and restarts also impacted regional markets, including ExxonMobil's Joliet in the Midwest, Total's Port Arthur in the Gulf Coast and, of course, ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge, which experienced a fire on Feb. 12.