Low gasoline cracks… EIA

The EIA’s excellent This Week In Petroleum, here:

“The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that margins for U.S. Gulf Coast refiners have declined to the lowest levels since late 2014, based on recent price trends in certain grades of crude oil and petroleum products. Although EIA estimates U.S. refiners will be able to find alternative sources of crude oil supply, recent crude oil supply reductions from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Canada along with threat of production disruptions in Venezuela have disproportionately reduced the availability of medium and heavy grades of crude oil with high sulfur content and increased the prices of these oils relative to other grades. In addition, gasoline crack spreads have been mostly negative since November 2018 and are further contributing to low refiner margins. Despite the low gasoline margins, refinery runs remain relatively high because of strong distillate prices.”