Wall Street Journal reports global diesel supplies are tightening, with
disruptions to Russian and Middle East flows increasing competition for US
diesel as winter approaches. OPIS (Dow Jones price service) shows the European
diesel benchmark rose to $167/bbl late last week from about $87/bbl a year
earlier; the Northwest Europe diesel crack was roughly $90/bbl on Friday versus
an average near $24/bbl last year. Unusually rich refining margins are pushing
US refiners to export more product: US distillate exports jumped to a record
c.1.9 mln b/d in the first week of August, cutting domestic buffers. US
distillate inventories are at the lowest seasonal level in about 30 years. BofA
says the market is entering peak seasonal demand with very limited room for
error.
