Gasoline futures hit a 9 month high, refining margins are exploding:
quote.bloomberg.com
Gasoline for May delivery rose 0.81 cent to $1.0686 a gallon on the Nymex,
closing at a nine-month high for the fifth time in the past seven sessions. Prices
are up 36 percent this year. Futures represent wholesale prices.
``Gasoline supplies are still too low,'' said Phil Flynn, vice president and senior
market analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. ``Prices on the Nymex will
easily exceed $1.11 before Memorial Day, exceeding last summer's high.''
Prices rose partly because of an unexpected shutdown of a unit at Valero Energy
Corp.'s Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery. The company didn't say when the unit
would return to service.
``It's a thinly supplied, nervous market, and any problem with a refinery is going
to boost prices,'' said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy risk
management at Fimat USA Inc. in New York.
High Profit Margins
The steeper rally in gasoline compared with crude oil this year has left refinery
profit margins high, and will entice refiners to boost motor-fuel production,
analysts said.
Gasoline is now worth about $17 a barrel more than the cost of crude oil, up from
about $2.50 in mid-December, based on futures prices.
Refiners have a license to print money now...with no end in sight.<NG> |
