US gasoline production running near record levels – EIA

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US refiner and blender gasoline production has run near-record levels between January-July 2017, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday.

Four-week rolling average production is above its five-year average, the EIA said, and close to the top of its five-year range.

Since March, the growth in US gasoline production has been the result of record-high refinery runs, according to the administration.

US refinery runs exceeded 17.5m bbl/day in the week ending April 21, this year, the EIA said, which was the first time since the government agency began publishing the weekly data series in 1990. Approximately 44% of that quantity is dedicated to motor gasoline.

Net production of finished motor gasoline averaged 9.3m bbl/day for the week ending August 11, according to the EIA.  

Despite growing demand both foreign and domestic, the EIA stated that US gasoline inventories also remain relatively high.

The EIA noted that gasoline inventories have been declining because of above-average gasoline exports and domestic demand. Despite this, inventories are still higher than the previous five year average.