May 19, 2016 [OPIS] - Imports of gasoline and blending components from Europe scheduled for discharge into terminals along the U.S. East Coast (PADD1) during May are expected to decline from April shipments, according to data from the OPIS Tanker Tracker.
The OPIS figures come alongside today’s weekly petroleum update published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which shows gasoline demand booming at record levels, while PADD1 remains comfortably supplied despite a modest drawdown. EIA-reported mogas imports for PADD1 for the week ended May 13 also reflect a slowdown compared with the past four weeks.
Around 9.84 million bbl of mogas and blendstock will be discharged into PADD1 from oil tankers loading at terminals across Europe during May to date, according to tracker figures current as of yesterday. Given that the voyage typically takes around 14 days, it is likely this total will not increase significantly.
Total gasoline volumes imported into PADD1 recorded in the tracker during April totaled 10.87 million bbl, which was an increase from 7.58 million bbl in March. Some 31 oil tankers have been chartered to import European road fuel cargoes for May so far according to the tracker, compared with 36 in April.
The EIA reported total mogas and blendstock imports of 611,000 b/d into PADD1 for the week ended May 13, down from the 708,000 b/d reported for the previous week. Weekly PADD1 imports had surpassed 850,000 b/d for each of the last two weeks of April. The normalized four-week average of PADD1 imports now has subsided to 764,000 b/d, from 785,000 b/d a week ago.
PADD1 gasoline inventories came off slightly for the week ended May 13, to 66 million bbl from 66.6 million bbl a week previously. The levels are comfortably above the 62.3 million bbl reported on the same week a year ago.
EIA-reported nationwide gasoline demand, meanwhile, continues to defy gravity. The latest weekly figure of 9.755 million b/d, the second-highest ever recorded, is 6% stronger than demand recorded for the same week in 2015, though demand for a few subsequent weeks last year had approached identically high levels.
Separately, freight for medium-range (MR) oil tankers hauling 37,000 metric ton cargoes of gasoline to New York Harbor from Rotterdam has steadily declined over the last week in parallel with the import slowdown, falling 3.1% to $15.60/metric ton according to data from the Baltic Exchange.
“It’s been a tough year for the MR tankers,” said one European shipbroker. “It’s terrible — too many ships.”
