Wow! A Lot Packed Into This "Oilprice.Com" Screenshot -- July 12, 2018

Updates

Later, 6:39 p. CDT: See first comment:

Gasoline output from our refineries rose by 388,000 barrels per day to a record high of 10,699,000 barrels per day during the week ending July 6th, while
gasoline product supplied fell by 594,000 barrels per day...

AND

our exports of gasoline rose by 699,000 barrels per day to 1,186,000 barrels per day....

Now, I can see us exporting light sweet crude on one hand, and importing sour crude that refineries are optimized for on the other, but gasoline is gasoline, no? so why are we exporting so much overseas that we have to import it from the Saudis?

Original Post

1. Saudi Arabia exporting gasoline to the US. First time ever. Apparently. Remember all those stories that Saudi Arabia was increasing production. This is one reason why: Prince Salman is increasing refining in his own country. Domestically, he needs more production. The other reason for increasing production recently: it's summer in Saudi Arabia and Saudi always increases production in the summer (all things being equal) to produce electricity for air conditioning.

2. WTI has dropped below $70. WTI is priced at Cushing. Must be excess of WTI at Cushing. "Every" oil is down "at the moment," except a slight rise in Brent -- I believe there's a "worker's strike" in the North Sea.

3. But look at that Iranian story: if accurate, Iran's gasoline imports dropped 36% year-over-year. Link here. Apparently this is due to the fact that Iran has brought a huge new refinery on line -- in prepartin for sanctions?

Iran imported 36 percent less gasoline than a year earlier during the first quarter of the Iranian year beginning on March 21 in what may well be a signal the country is shoring up its domestic supply as the start of U.S. sanctions draw near.

Iranian media quoted the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company as saying that the average daily gasoline imports stood at 5.7 million liters during the first quarter. State news agency IRNA separately reported that the import decline was linked to the start of gasoline production at a new refinery, the Persian Gulf Star Refinery.

A senior executive from NIOPDC’s parent company said Iran imported an average 13 million liters daily of gasoline during the first half of Iranian 2017, but by the last quarter of that year, this had slumped to about 5 million liters daily.

4. The trope continues: "high US gasoline prices and US gasoline prices are increasing."