US Atlantic Coast refinery runs climbed 5.90 percentage points to 94.60% in the week ending April 27 and beat the national average for the first time since late January, US Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.
East Coast refinery utilization has beaten the national average only two of the past 18 weeks, the data showed. As recently as mid-March, USAC runs trailed the national average by 15.30 percentage points (77.00% versus 92.30%) during work at the Phillips 66 refinery at Bayway, New Jersey, the data showed.
Paced by builds in RBOB and finished gasoline, Atlantic Coast gasoline stocks rose 1.28 million barrels to 62.06 million barrels last week, the data showed. The four-week average for stocks increased 1.16 million barrels to 60.91 million barrels and topped 60 million barrels for the first time since mid-March, the data showed.
East Coast gasoline imports fell 142,000 b/d to 635,000 b/d but maintained a floor at 500,000 b/d for a sixth straight week. Ships arriving in the region with gasoline last week included the East Coast with 97,000 barrels of PBOB for Irving Oil at Providence, Rhode Island, and Portland, Maine; and the FSL Hamburg with 230,000 barrels of CBOB for ABN Amro Bank at Jacksonville, Florida, US Customs data showed.
The intake of 635,000 b/d represented just short of 16 cargoes for the week.
