By Arathy Somasekhar
HOUSTON (Reuters) – oil imports final month rose to an almost two-year excessive as refiners scooped up heavy crudes from Canada and Latin America to course of into fuels for summer time driving season.
Imports of crude oil rose to three.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in Might, the very best since July 2022, information from ship monitoring service Kpler confirmed. Imports to date this month have remained robust, at round 2.9 million bpd up to now.
Gas demand has remained tepid with product equipped for gasoline at 9.1 million bpd within the week to June 14, barely beneath the 10-year seasonal common, information from the U.S. Power Data Administration confirmed.
U.S. product equipped of distillate gasoline oil additionally was round 3.7 million bpd, about 3% beneath the seasonal common, in response to EIA information.
Crude oil imports from Canada climbed in Might to 319,000 bpd, its most in 2-1/2 years, because the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline boosted flows to the U.S. West Coast. The imports have been 39% greater than the identical month a 12 months in the past.
Provides from Mexico, Guyana and Colombia additionally climbed. Guyana crude hit a document 99,000 bpd and Colombia rose to a close to two-year excessive. Imports from Mexican state oil firm Pemex rebounded, reversing temporary export cuts.
“U.S. refiners purchased extra crude oil to mitigate the lack of Mexican crude,” mentioned Rohit Rathod, market analyst at power researcher Vortexa.
Pemex in April had pared exports, sending U.S. refiners to get order heavier crude from Colombia and Canada, however weaker-than-expected demand by Pemex’s home refineries canceled deliberate Might cuts. Imports from Mexico this month have run 624,000 bpd, the very best this 12 months.
High Might refining importers have been Chevron (NYSE:), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:), Valero Power (NYSE:) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:), in response to Kpler information.