"Unfortunately for the bulls, what once threatened to be a products supply crisis created by hurricane damage is well behind us,"

Societe Generale analysts Deborah White and Alexandre Kervinio said in a report referring to the fall in US refinary runs. US refinery runs fell 298,000 b/d or 2% from week-earlier rates to 14.922-mil b/d, while total products deliveries surged by 2.4% or 514,000 b/d in the week ended Dec 16, the EIA figures showed. The lower refinery runs could mean either problems at the plants or that the refiners have begun maintenance season early. Most US refiners had deferred fall turnarounds as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

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