Home > Chemical News

Chemical News

US Gulf Coast premium gasoline falls 17.69 cents/gal

https://www.chemnet.com   Mar 30,2015 Platts
US Gulf Coast premium gasoline fell 17.69 cents Friday on refiner selling, a lack of incentive to blend gasoline and pressure from dips in both lower-octane gasoline and the NYMEX RBOB contract.

93-octane gasoline saw its biggest one-day drop since a 25-cent fall on December 22, with the earlier decline tied to a rush to shed gasoline to avoid tax liability.

Phillips 66 drove the market lower Friday for premium at 9 RVP (V2). It improved an offer from 1 cent over futures to 4.5 cents under futures, where Noble and Trafigura agreed to buy 25,000 barrels each. Platts assessed V2 at NYMEX May RBOB minus 4.5 cents/gal.

The assessed spot price of V2 fell from $1.9260/gal to a five-week low at $174.91/gal.


Premium gasoline saw pressure from weaker regular gasoline on the first day of trades against the May RBOB contract and tepid market interest with the next Colonial Pipeline shipping deadline four days away. Conventional at 87 octane fell about 2 cents.

The May RBOB futures contract fell 7.85 cents to $1.7941/gal as concerns over airstrikes in Yemen abated.

A selloff of cash-market RBOB has left US refiners with no incentive to blend premium gasoline, a US products trader said. Since Monday, the differential for RBOB at 7.8 RVP (F1) has fallen from 3 cents over the April futures contract to 8 cents under the May contract, with less than 1 cent separating the April and May contracts.

"When the F1 was dumped, there was nothing to make from a blend perspective," the trader said. "I think the F1 and the V will track each other. You should see the V1 come down next, he said, referring to 7.8 RVP summer-grade gasoline.

V1 was heard traded Friday at NYMEX May RBOB plus 12 cents/gal, with Lukoil offering later at 15 cents over futures with no buyer interest.

Platts begins assessing V1 for the first time this year on April 1 as part of the shift to summer-grade gasoline.
 Print  |    add to Favorites  |    Close