DOE Report:

Overall, U.S. refinery utilization rates increased by 1 percentage point to 92% of capacity. Atlantic Coast refineries were at 84.1% of capacity while Gulf Coast refineries were at 93.8% of capacity.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently issued a report on the potential short term implications of the refinery closures in the U.S. Northeast. It is anticipated that on July 1, 2012, Sunoco's Philadelphia refinery will close. Already this year, ConocoPhillips closed its Pennsylvania refinery, Sunoco closed its Marcus Hook Philadelphia refinery and HOVENSA's US Virgin Islands refinery closed. These refineries provided 40% of the gasoline, 60% of the ULSD, and 45% of heating oil to the U.S. Northeast. Replacing these volumes presents supply and logistical problems. The report states that financial incentives (higher prices) will satisfy the supply concern but the logistical constraints will require time to satisfy, especially ULSD and heating oil product. The report concludes that there may be localized product shortages in some areas and higher prices due to the logistical hurdles of getting product to certain locations due to the lack of terminal infrastructure and pipeline connections from the Gulf Coast refineries. The complete report is available at:
http://www.eia.gov/analysis/petroleum/nerefining/prelim/pdf/nerefining_activity.pdf

MasterCard, in its weekly SpendingPulse report, stated that gasoline demand fell by 0.5 percent last week over the previous week. Mastercard reports that gasoline demand was down for the third week in a row, year over year. This declining demand is occurring despite falling gasoline prices.