USWC Weekly: Portland ULSD Rises 19.54% on Week


   
Miguel E. Andujar
DTN Refined Fuels Market Reporter

   DAVENPORT, FL (DTN) -- U.S. West Coast refined product spot prices increased 
across all nine markets tracked by DTN during the week ended September 4, led 
by sharp advances in diesel while gasoline and jet fuel also strengthened. The 
increases came as regional gasoline and distillate inventories remained tight 
despite continued high refinery utilization.

   Portland ULSD recorded the steepest weekly increase, rising 82.54cts, or 
19.54%, to a weekly average of $5.0502 gallon. Prices were 81.30% above the 
corresponding period of the previous year.

   San Francisco ULSD followed, increasing 72.14cts, or 16.58%, to average 
$5.0722 gallon, while Los Angeles ULSD rose 51.34cts, or 11.49%, to $4.9822 
gallon. Compared with the previous year, San Francisco and Los Angeles ULSD 
were 99.06% and 95.80% higher, respectively.

   Among gasoline grades, Portland sub-octane recorded the largest weekly 
increase, rising 33.14cts, or 10.10%, to average $3.6113 gallon. San Francisco 
CARBOB regular increased 23.34cts, or 6.37%, to $3.8953 gallon, while Los 
Angeles CARBOB rose 19.14cts, or 5.34%, to $3.7753 gallon. The three gasoline 
grades stood 53.34%, 66.52% and 61.10%, respectively, above the corresponding 
period of the previous year.

   Some of the larger price increases during the week were linked to the 
September 1 transition to higher Reid vapor pressure (RVP) seasonal fuel 
specifications across West Coast markets.

   Jet fuel prices also strengthened across Los Angeles, San Francisco and 
Portland, increasing 22.89cts, or 5.93%, to average $4.0897 gallon. Prices at 
all three hubs were 76.75% above the corresponding period of the previous year.

   The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday (9/2) that PADD 5 
gasoline inventories stood at 27.2 million bbl during the week ended August 28, 
their lowest level in three months and below the 30.2 million bbl reported 
during the same week of the previous year. Gasoline imports declined to 22,000 
bpd from the prior week.

   Regional distillate fuel stockpiles fell by 700,000 bbl to 9.9 million bbl, 
also their lowest level in more than three months and below the 11.7 million 
bbl reported during the corresponding week of the previous year. Jet fuel 
inventories increased by 300,000 bbl to 11.4 million bbl, slightly above the 
previous year's 11.3 million bbl.

   PADD 5 crude oil inventories increased by 2.4 million bbl to 47.7 million 
bbl, while crude imports rebounded to 1.144 million bpd from 826,000 bpd the 
previous week.

   Refinery utilization on the West Coast eased to 92.8% from 93.7% the 
previous week. No refinery outages, flaring events or other significant supply 
disruptions were reported across the region during the week.




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