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Even Shutting a Refinery Can’t Boost New York Gasoline Prices

Even Shutting a Refinery Can’t Boost New York Gasoline Prices

(Bloomberg) -- The New York market is so saturated with unsold gasoline that even the closure of a refinery feeding the region can’t lift prices.

Canada’s Come by Chance refinery in Newfoundland and Labrador will stop production for as long as five months because of the coronavirus pandemic. The prospect of declining fuel supply to New York and New England would ordinarily give prices a bump. But, in the day after the announcement, spot gasoline in New York fell, trading at the biggest discount to futures since June 2019.

Even Shutting a Refinery Can’t Boost New York Gasoline Prices

Other New York gasoline differentials also declined 1 to 2 cents a gallon.

Parts of the U.S. are awash in gasoline as coronavirus-related lockdowns curb fuel demand while supplies continue to rise. Two large gasoline cargoes have reached the East Coast since late last week -- the High Mars and the NCC Huda -- with gasoline blendstock from Rotterdam, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.