US Data -- Gulf Coast gasoline production jumps 9.2% week on week: EIA

Houston (Platts)--16 Sep 2015 1220 pm EDT/1620 GMT

US Gulf Coast gasoline blenders and refiners' production of finished gasoline increased 190,000 b/d or 9.2% week on week to 2.249 million b/d in the week that ended September 11, posting a five-year high for the second week of September as refineries continue to run at high rates.

Gulf Coast refiners bumped up production to utilize 92.3% of their refineries' operable capacity, recovering from a spate of production issues in the previous week, when capacity utilization was 87.6%.

US gasoline demand, however, did not live up to the market's high expectations for the last major US driving holiday of the year -- Labor Day.

US product supplied, which is commonly used as a proxy for nationwide gasoline demand, was largely unchanged week on week, falling 34,000 barrels to 8.983 million b/d.

At the same time, Gulf Coast gasoline stocks dropped 302,000 barrels to 73.551 million barrels.

The region's RBOB stocks rose 396,000 barrels to 10.018 million barrels, and CBOB stocks also posted gains, rising 149,000 barrels to 29.924 million barrels.

Refineries continue to run at high rates despite sliding crack spreads for gasoline.

The premium for a barrel of 87-unleaded gasoline at 11.5 RVP over the benchmark Louisiana Light Sweet crude was $6.02/barrel Tuesday.

Tuesday's crack was $22.79/b below the crack on July 1 while the LLS crack's 50-day average is $21.84/b.

The WTI crack stood slightly higher Tuesday at $9.12/b yet still lagged far behind its 50-day average of $25.83/b.

--Amanda Rayborn, amanda.rayborn@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron.greenhalgh@platts.com

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