- Retail regular gasoline prices fell by 6.8c in the last four weeks to $3.389/Gal. About 55% of the change was due to the price of crude oil, while the remainder was the refinery margin
- Scroll down for a chart of the RBOB-WTI crack spread, a measure of refinery margin. It shows elevated cracks this year
- Total motor gasoline inventories fell by 0.9 MMBbl/d for the week ending February 24 and are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year
- US gasoline prices snap a four-week losing streak
- The nation's average price of gasoline rose 4.7c from a week ago to $3.389/gal on March 6
- Widespread refinery maintenance, which peaked in February at 1.4 MMBbl/d of offline capacity, continues to constrain the US downstream industry just as gasoline demand is expected to increase due to the summer quality change
- Retail prices are expected to rise further as refiners switch out inexpensive butane for more expensive reformates to suit hot-weather vapor pressure requirements
- Also, the majority of US refining companies intend to operate at 85-89% capacity this quarter, down from 94-97% in Q4 2022, as years of strong margins forced them to put off maintenance as long as possible
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- Retail diesel prices fell by 33.2c in the last four weeks to $4.282/Gal. About 40% of the change was due to the price of crude oil, while the remainder was the refinery margin
- Scroll down for a chart of the NY Harbor ULSD-WTI crack spread, a measure of refinery margin. It shows elevated cracks this year
- Distillate fuel inventories rose by 0.2 MMBbl/d for the week ending February 24 and are about 10% below the five-year average for this time of year
- US Retail diesel prices post a fifth-consecutive weekly loss
- The national average diesel price fell 1.2c/Gal from a week ago to $4.282
- According to EIA data, prices haven't been this low since February 28, 2022, when the national average was $4.104
- A relatively warm U.S. winter, along with declining prices, helped push the U.S. distillate inventories to 122.1MMBbl, the highest level in a year
- Retail prices are expected to keep falling as demand continues to weaken and winter heating oil consumption declines, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy
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