After January weakness, gasoline crack spreads increase in February (2/26/2020)

U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline crack spreads (the difference between wholesale gasoline prices and crude oil prices that is often used to estimate refining margins) for January 2020 were relatively small compared with the previous five-year (2015–19) average, but they increased in February and as of February 25 are now wider than the five-year average (Figure 1). In January, weak gasoline demand (as measured by product supplied), high gasoline inventories, and high refinery runs all contributed to the narrow gasoline crack spreads. In February, refinery outages, increased gasoline demand, and flat West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices contributed to the growing Gulf Coast crack spreads. ... More »