Author Topic: The United States continues trend toward exporting more gasoline than it imports  (Read 1175 times)

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Offline thackney

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The United States continues trend toward exporting more gasoline than it imports
https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/weekly/
 November 29, 2017

Despite record high gasoline consumption, the United States is on pace to export more gasoline than it imports for the second year in a row. Changes in regional markets, increased demand for exports, and high refinery runs are once again leading to the United States to be a net exporter in 2017.

In 2016, the United States became a net exporter of gasoline for the first time on an annual basis with net gasoline exports of 56,000 barrels per day (b/d). Through September 2017 (the most recently available monthly data), the United States averaged net gasoline exports of 55,000 b/d. The shift toward net exports of gasoline on an annual basis has been a long-running trend.

U.S. gasoline imports and exports are highly seasonal. The United States has typically been a net importer of gasoline in spring and summer months, when domestic consumption increases, and a net exporter in winter months, when demand is lower. However, for every month between April and August 2017, the United States set either record low net imports or record high net exports (Figure 1). Almost year-round net gasoline exports is a major change for U.S. gasoline markets, which is the result of one long-term trend and two more recent trends.



Changes in trends of gasoline production and consumption in the Midwest United States, in part, have driven this trend. Historically, the U.S. Gulf Coast (Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) 3) supplied refined products to other regions of the United States where demand exceeded supply, such as the Midwest (PADD 2) and the U.S. East Coast (PADD 1). While the East Coast still relies on supplies from the Gulf Coast and still remains a large net importer of gasoline—619,000 b/d in 2016, the Midwest has reduced its need to draw supplies from the Gulf Coast in recent years. Midwest refineries now are running at higher rates and increased capacity, resulting in more Midwest gasoline demand being met from in-region production. Between 2006 and 2016, Midwest receipts of gasoline from the Gulf Coast declined by 278,000 b/d to 273,000 b/d.

Because of logistical and economic constraints on sending increasing gasoline supplies from the Gulf Coast to other regions, the volumes of gasoline no longer demanded by the Midwest have become available for export. With the Rocky Mountain (PADD 4) and U.S. West Coast (PADD 5) relying largely on in-region or domestic supplies, the balance of U.S. net gasoline imports or exports is between East Coast imports and Gulf Coast exports. Between 2013 and 2016, Gulf Coast gasoline exports increased by 236,000 b/d (54%), while East Coast imports increased by 41,000 b/d (7%), resulting in a shift for the United States as a whole.



Available Gulf Coast gasoline supplies come at a time when both domestic and nearby fuel markets are experiencing increasing demand for multiple petroleum products, including gasoline. A majority of the growth in U.S. gasoline exports has been to markets in Mexico and Central and South America. In the first half of 2017, Mexico accounted for 53% of the 755,000 b/d of U.S. total motor gasoline exports. Low utilization of Mexican refineries and the ongoing market reforms of Mexico’s retail fuel distribution have resulted in continued increased demand for gasoline supplies from the U.S. Gulf Coast.

At the same time, U.S. domestic gasoline consumption has been increasing to record levels. U.S. gasoline consumption, as measured by product supplied, set a new monthly record high of 9.8 million b/d in August 2017. To meet the combined record domestic gasoline demand and the increased export demand for multiple petroleum products—including gasoline—U.S. refineries have been running at increasingly higher rates. U.S. gross refinery inputs set a record high of 17.8 million b/d for the week ending August 25 and have been higher than the five-year range for a majority of 2017 (Figure 3).



If the trends of increasing demand from export markets and U.S. refineries producing near record levels of gasoline continues, the United States is likely to become a monthly net exporter of gasoline more consistently.

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Offline thackney

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« Last Edit: November 30, 2017, 01:28:36 pm by thackney »
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Do we know how much ethanol is imported that offsets these gasolive exports?
No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Offline thackney

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Do we know how much ethanol is imported that offsets these gasolive exports?

We have also become a net exporter of ethanol as well.



Gasoline and other product exports are offset by crude oil imports.  We import more crude oil than we need and export the surplus products.  That helps the trade balance and keeps us with a refinery capacity surplus.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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thx, I thought we had ethanol imports from Brazil.

No punishment, in my opinion, is too great, for the man who can build his greatness upon his country's ruin~  George Washington

Offline thackney

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thx, I thought we had ethanol imports from Brazil.

We still import some from them.

U.S. Imports from Brazil of Fuel Ethanol
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MFEIM_NUS-NBR_1&f=M

But we export more to them and Canada.  A bit to other places as well.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_expc_a_EPOOXE_EEX_mbbl_m.htm
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