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EnergiesNet.com 04 14 2022
European gasoline shipments to the U.S. typically rise in April, in the run-up to America’s summer driving season. Not this year.
With U.S. gasoline prices averaging more than $4 a gallon, consumers are cutting back, and that’s affecting the trans-Atlantic fuel trade. Shipments from Europe have dropped to 346,000 barrels a day in the first ten days of this month — 23% below the level observed for all of April 2021 — tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“U.S. oil products demand has been sadly weak because of high pump prices, said Richard Matthews, head of research at E.A. Gibson Shipbrokers Ltd. in London. “With gasoline prices quite firm in the U.S., demand has weakened for the last few weeks,” he said.
To be sure, the past few years have not provided an easy measuring stick. In April 2020, lockdowns in most parts of the world demolished fuel demand. And this time last year, Covid vaccines aiding the recovery were just starting to become widely available.
Still, with the exception of 2020, gasoline flows from Europe to the Americas this month are set to be the lowest for any April since 2018.
At least three tankers hauling the fuel to New York were diverted to other regions in recent days. U.S. gasoline demand remains muted for the time of year, on a 4-week average basis, data from the Energy Information Administration show.
And stockpiles in the Central Atlantic region, which includes New York Harbor, are at the lowest seasonal level since 2011, according to the EIA.
A tight diesel market could also be a factor hampering gasoline flows from Europe. Refiners have adjusted their operations to make up for an anticipated shortfall in diesel exports from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine.
“As a result of high crude runs, particularly in the U.S., more gasoline is being produced, and this is meeting a large proportion of domestic demand, reducing the need for imports from Europe”, said Jonathan Leitch, an oil market analyst at Turner, Mason & Co.
But he added: “High prices may well put a cap on summer driving demand for gasoline.”
bloomberg.com 04 13 2022
