Falling Fast? -- August 26, 2015; California Refineries Can't Keep Up With Demand

See John Kemp's tweets below. Note that West Coast refineries processing 144,000 bopd more than what they did in 2014, and yet (see the graph) they cannot keep up with demand.

A Goldman Sacks spokesman on CNBC this a.m. said gasoline demand in the US was up 17% this year -- see video, about one minute into the video.

It's hard to believe it's up that much, but there's no question it is up significantly. It will (or already has) hit an all-time record (the previous record was the third week in August, 2007).

To the best of my knowledge, the Exxon refinery in Torrance is still down following an explosion earlier this year. Also, see graphic at this link.

Tweeting now:

• US gasoline consumption over last 4 weeks averaged 9.6 million b/d, around +530,000 b/d above prior year;
• US gasoline stocks edge up +1.6 million bbl, roughly +2 million bbl above 2014 level and +7 million above 10-yr avg;
• US gasoline stocks in terms of days of consumption in line with long-run average and down from 2014;
• US distillate stocks rise +1.4 million bbl, roughly +16 million above 10-yr avg. but tracking normal seasonal build;
• US refinery throughput edged down -117,000 b/d but still +116,000 b/d over prior year and at seasonal record;
• US crude oil imports slowed to 7.2 million b/d compared with 8.0 million b/d prior week, mostly explaining stock draw;
• US commercial crude oil stocks fell -5.5 million bbl last week;
• US refinery utilization at 94.5%;
• West Coast refineries continue to run hard (+144,000 b/d above 2014 level);
• West Coast gasoline stocks fall by almost -1 million bbl to lowest for this time of year in more than a decade: 
• Propane stocks climb to new record while residual fuel oil inventories remain flat

The crude oil stock decline of 5.5 million bbls seems pretty much due to the 0.8 million bopd import decline (0.8 million x 7 = 5.6 million bbls).

Refineries running flat out continue to barely meet demand -- the US gasoline stocks in terms of days of consumption dropped from 2014.

Running flat out, the West Coast refineries cannot keep up with gasoline demand:

I often misinterpret the data. If this information is important to you, go to the source. The tweets were from John Kemp.