Abraham says refiners assure him on US summer gasoline supplies

Abraham says refiners assure him on US summer gasoline supplies

Washington (Platts)--4Jun2004


The US refinery industry has reassured Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that
it was prepared to run full-out this summer, without interruption, to meet
domestic gasoline demand, Abraham told reporters Friday. 

"The refining industry made it clear there would be no diminishment of
refining capacity, and that they would take every action necessary to avoid
any kind of reduction" in supply due to non-essential shutdowns, Abraham said,
noting he met with officials from the refining industry on Thursday. Abraham,
briefing a small group of reporters at Department of Energy headquarters in
Washington, noted that he continued to remain concerned about gasoline prices,
which have topped $2/gal for regular-grade on a nationwide average. While much
of the gasoline price strength is due to strong crude oil prices, Abraham said
he was reassured that US refiners would be running full out this summer to
ensure adequate supplies.

Abraham said he "sensed" from the meeting that refiners were capable of
boosting utilization rates even further in coming weeks, and that all
scheduled, routine maintenance had been completed. He said he used the meeting
with representatives from the refining industry's trade organization to stress
that the Bush Administration was keeping a close eye on gasoline prices and
market behavior. "It's important that nobody take advantage of this tight
market" to manipulate prices, Abraham said, adding that he told refiners that
the administration was prepared to "act quickly if we get that indication."

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