US refinery squeeze deepens

AN unexpected spike in US refinery outages due to maintenance and technical problems is hiking the potential for products imports as America’s summer driving season begins. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), US gasoline inventories declined by more than 34M barrels (or 15%) during February-April on refinery issues, representing “the sharpest decline in gasoline inventories over a consecutive 12-week period in EIA’s recorded historical data”. Products imports are now increasing as a result, with the EIA noting that US gasoline imports for the week ended 11 May topped 1.5M bdp, the fifth highest weekly import total ever. According to The Economist, US refinery outages this spring were eight times the usual levels, with several refineries yet to fully recover from accidents. “Chastened by bad publicity, [refinery] managers are taking more time and care over maintenance,” noted The Economist. And in terms of future capacity growth, Poten & Partners recently reported that several US refinery expansion projects “appear to be in a holding pattern”, as refiner growth plans are being hindered by public calls to increase US use of alternative fuels.