* Chicago gasoline falls on selling
* Group Three gasoline down despite terminal outage
* Gulf Coast gasoline up on refinery work
* Harbor heating oil weaker on weather, lack of export
demand
HOUSTON, April 4 (Reuters) – Chicago gasoline fell sharply
on Wednesday after a major seller flooded the market with
cleaner burning, lower Reid Vapor Pressure barrels, traders
said.
Gasoline differentials in Chicago fell 11.50 cents to 22.00
cents under May RBOB gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile
Exchange
A late-day slump in Chicago gasoline differentials on
Tuesday had led to a 4.25-cent discount to futures at the end of
trade.
Group Three gasoline also retreated despite spot outages at
a Missouri terminal as demand came under pressure.
Differentials fell by a cent per gallon to 19.00/18.50 cents
under futures.
Enterprise Products Partners said on Wednesday that
its Cape Girardeau, Missouri, terminal is low on sub-octane and
gasoline and ran out of ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) on
Tuesday.
On the Gulf Coast, M2 gasoline differentials on Wednesday
gained 0.75 cent per gallon to 10.75 cents under May RBOB
futures on the NYMEX as Exxon Mobil Corp confirmed the
Sunday start of planned work on a crude unit, a coker and other
units at its 344,500 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Beaumont,
Texas.
Gulf Coast distillate markets were mixed. Differentials for
ultra-low sulfur diesel fell slightly early Wednesday as U.S.
Energy and Information Administration data showed a rise of 1
million barrels in distillate stocks in the region last week.
However, differentials later rebounded to end the day up by
1.25 cents per gallon at 6.50/7.00 cents over May NYMEX heating
oil futures as its latest five-day lifting cycle scheduled to
move on the Colonial Pipeline on Wednesday, traders said.
Gulf heating oil differentials gained a quarter cent per
gallon to 3.00/2.50 cents under while jet fuel differentials
slipped half a cent per gallon by day’s end to 5.00/6.00 cents
over, traders said.
In the New York Harbor, tight gasoline markets rallied in
afternoon trade, with winter-grade F4 RBOB getting the most
attention, traders said.
Prompt F4 RBOB was done as high as 9.50 cents under, up 2.00
cents on the day, and ended the day at 9.50/9.00 cents under. F4
RBOB loading by April 12 was done at 9.00 cents under, up nearly
3.00 cents.
As the winter-grade market rallied, the summer-grade market
slumped, losing more than 2.00 cents on a differential basis as
selling interest trumped buying interest, traders said.
Prompt summer-grade F2 RBOB fell to 6.75/7.25 cents over,
while barrels loading by April 20 were pegged at 6.50/7.00 cents
over, also down close to 2.00 cents.
The M2 conventional gasoline market inched up by a quarter
cent and was called either side of 0.50 cent over in limited
trade.
Harbor distillate markets saw jet fuel rise by half a cent
on strong airline demand to 8.50/9.00 cents over, while the
heating oil and ULSD differentials were steady.
The EIA’s weekly inventory data release on Wednesday said
U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 1.46 million barrels to 221.91
million barrels last week, driven by the drop in Gulf Coast
stocks.
Midwest gasoline stocks gained 290,000 barrels last week,
while East Coast stocks increased by 165,000 barrels, the EIA
said.
U.S. distillate stocks rose by 19,000 barrels to 135.89
million barrels.
Gulf Coast distillate inventories gained 1 million barrels,
while Midwest stocks lost 573,000 barrels and East Coast stocks
fell by 480,000 barrels, the EIA said.
U.S. refinery utilization climbed 1.2 percentage points to
85.7 percent last week, reflecting utilization increases in all
three regions east of the Rockies, the EIA data showed.
Gulf Coast utilization rose by 2.1 percentage points to 89.1
percent, reflecting in part the restart of an alkylation unit at
Bp Plc’s 406,570 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Texas City,
Texas.
Midwest utilization rose by 1.4 percentage points to 92.3
percent, while East Coast utilization gained 0.7 percentage
points to 78.6 percent, the EIA said.
For more refinery news, please go to
U.S. GULF COAST
Cycle 21 M2 gasoline was seen done at 11.00 and 10.75 cents
under May RBOB futures, up 0.75 cent.
Scheduling Cycle 20 61-grade ultra-low sulfur diesel was
seen done at 5.30, 5.50, 6.00, 6.05, 6.50, 6.75 and 7.00 cents
over the May heating oil screen, up 1.25 cents.
Newly prompt Cycle 21 54-grade jet fuel fell half a cent to
5.00/6.00 cents over.
Heating oil for Cycle 21 rose a quarter cent to 3.00/2.50
cents under.
NEW YORK HARBOR
Prompt M2 conventional gasoline was called 0.25/0.75 cent
over, up a quarter cent, while any-April M2 material was talked
at 3.75/3.25 cents under, down a quarter cent.
Prompt F4 RBOB was pegged at either side of 9.25 cents
under, up 2.00 cents, while prompt F2 RBOB was talked at
6.75/7.25 cents over, down 2.00 cents.
Any-April F2 RBOB was called either side of 5.75 cents over,
up 1.75 cents.
Ratable May F2 RBOB was talked at 5.25/5.75 cents over June
RBOB futures, up 1.25 cents, while ratable June F2 RBOB was
pegged at 4.50/5.00 cents over July RBOB futures, up 1.50 cents.
Prompt and any-April heating oil were pegged at 1.50/1.00
cents under, unchanged.
Prompt and any-April low sulfur diesel were talked at
2.75/3.25 cents over, down 0.75 cent.
Prompt ULSD was called 8.75/9.25 cents over, unchanged,
while any-April ULSD was pegged at 7.00/7.50 cents over, also
unchanged.
Prompt and any-April jet fuel were talked at 8.50/9.00 cents
over, up a half cent.
MIDWEST
Chicago gasoline was fell 11.50 cents to 22 cents under May
RBOB gasoline futures while ULSD was flat at 2.75 cents over.
Group Three gasoline fell a cent to 19.00/18.50 cents under.
Group ULSD rose a quarter cent to 5.00 cents over.
