Latest fuel regulations put US over a barrel

AMERICA

The country suffers a regular gasoline deficit and in a normal year it will import 400,000 barrels per day, much of it from Europe. The reason for the deficit is that a barrel of oil produces only a limited amount of gasoline. Think of it as a sausage. The top slice, known as light products, is propane and butane, the second is naphtha and gasoline. Below that is jet fuel and diesel but the bulk of a barrel of crude can only be used as heating oil, which refiners struggle to give away.

While America craves gasoline, Europeans hunger for diesel, an imbalance that leads to a global trade in oil products. Russia fuels diesel-short Europe which in turn supplies America. To make matters worse, America is moving into the summer season with lower stocks than usual, mainly because of new regulations.

Times of London