EIA: PADD 3 Gasoline Inventories Dip for 2nd Straight Week

HOUSTON, TX (DTN) – U.S. Gulf Coast (PADD 3) gasoline inventories saw a second consecutive weekly drop during the week ended January 23, as a winter storm affected refining production, according to Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday (1/28). In contrast, distillate and jet fuel stocks reported a build in the same period.

Motor gasoline inventories in the Gulf Coast region dropped by 1.3 million bbl to 93.3 million bbl in the reference week. However, the weekly gasoline balance was above the 91.6 million bbl reported in the same week a year earlier.

The region reported zero gasoline imports compared to volumes of 8,000 bpd reported the prior week and year-over-year.

Jet fuel inventories on the Gulf Coast rose by 900,000 bbl to 14.4 million bbl in the week ending January 23 and were 1.5 million bbl higher than the same week from last year.

Distillate fuel oil stocks in PADD 3 rose by 100,000 bbl to 50.8 million bbl on a weekly basis, an increase of 9.7 million bbl year-over-year, EIA data showed.

As a net exporter of distillates and jet fuel, PADD 3 does not report imports of those products.

Refining utilization in PADD 3 was at 90.5%, below the prior week’s 95.1%, driven by unplanned refinery shutdowns linked to a winter storm in the region.

Due to limited gasoline supplies seen in PADD 3 in the last two weeks, the average retail prices for gasoline in the Gulf Coast rose by 5.8cts to $2.455 per gallon last week, but still remained the most competitive value nationwide as the U.S. average was $2.853 per gallon in the same period, EIA data released Tuesday (1/27) showed. 

PADD 3 diesel retail prices climbed for the second consecutive week by 7.7cts to average $3.325 per gallon last week and were below the nationwide average of $3.624 per gallon.