U.S. Gulf Coast draws European gasoline imports

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gasoline cargoes coming from Europe continue to be diverted to the Gulf Coast where a spate of hurricanes has shuttered area refineries and severely curtailed supply.

“Europe is shipping out all the volumes it can,” said one trader for a Northwest Europe refinery, who said that crack spread was a 15-month high.


Along the U.S. Gulf Coast’s refinery row, 14 refineries, with the capacity to run 3.8 mln bpd which is 22 pct of total U.S. capacity, are now shut ahead of Hurricane Ike which is due to make landfall on the Texas Coast by Saturday.

Shipping sources say at least five cargoes of both Eurograde and RBOB are fixed to arrive in the Gulf in September, continuing a trend which began in mid-August.

Reuters