In September, refinery margins showed diverging trends. In the Atlantic Basin, margins increased as the start of peak refinery maintenance season led to a reduction in product output, which exerted pressure on product balances, especially for gasoil, which was already below the five-year average. In addition, declining feedstock prices further contributed to solid support on product markets, mainly for middle distillates both in the US Gulf Coast (USGC) and Northwest Europe (NWE).
Meanwhile, in Asia, refinery margins suffered losses, pressured by the recent release of China’s fourth batch of export quotas as it set the stage for stronger product exports in the near term. In addition, expectations of the fifth batch of export quotas exacerbated bearish product market sentiment within the region and ultimately led to a downturn in Asian product performance across the barrel. The only exception was naphtha, which continued to gain favour as the preferred petrochemical feedstock, given high gas prices.
Over the month, global refinery processing rates declined, in line with historical trends, dropping by 1.2 mb/d in response to a rise in offline capacity amid the start of the peak autumn maintenance season.
In the coming month, refinery intake is expected to decline further by nearly 900 tb/d, according to preliminary data.
| Â | Refinery throughput, mb/d | Refinery utilization, % | ||||||
| Â | Â | Change | Â | Change | ||||
| Selected OECD countries | Jul 22 | Aug 22 | Sep 22 | Sep/Aug | Jul 22 | Aug 22 | Sep 22 | Sep/Aug |
| US | 16.77 | 16.74 | 16.36 | -0.38 | 93.46 | 93.32 | 91.20 | -2.1 pp |
| Euro-14, plus UK and Norway | 10.14 | 10.10 | 9.86 | -0.24 | 86.08 | 85.77 | 83.70 | -2.1 pp |
| France | 0.98 | 0.97 | 0.93 | -0.04 | 84.89 | 83.85 | 80.57 | -3.3 pp |
| Germany | 1.86 | 1.80 | 1.77 | -0.03 | 90.71 | 87.84 | 86.34 | -1.5 pp |
| Italy | 1.44 | 1.38 | 1.34 | -0.04 | 75.58 | 72.63 | 70.57 | -2.1 pp |
| UK | 0.96 | 1.02 | 1.01 | -0.02 | 82.18 | 87.30 | 85.97 | -1.3 pp |
| Selected Asia* | 24.72 | 24.18 | 24.62 | 0.44 | 85.69 | 83.83 | 84.18 | 0.4 pp |
| Refinery crude throughput | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 3Q21 | 4Q21 | 1Q22 | 2Q22 | 3Q22 |
| OECD Americas | 19.04 | 16.59 | 17.79 | 18.42 | 18.20 | 18.37 | 18.75 | 18.79 |
| of which US | 16.99 | 14.72 | 15.65 | 16.22 | 16.02 | 16.06 | 16.61 | 16.62 |
| OECD Europe | 12.13 | 10.65 | 10.91 | 11.35 | 11.50 | 11.00 | 11.43 | 11.55 |
| of which: | ||||||||
| France | 1.00 | 0.67 | 0.69 | 0.79 | 0.76 | 0.79 | 0.84 | 0.96 |
| Germany | 1.78 | 1.72 | 1.72 | 1.75 | 1.90 | 1.75 | 1.87 | 1.81 |
| Italy | 1.35 | 1.11 | 1.23 | 1.27 | 1.34 | 1.16 | 1.42 | 1.39 |
| UK | 1.08 | 0.92 | 0.92 | 0.99 | 0.99 | 1.04 | 1.06 | 1.01 |
| OECD Asia Pacific | 6.79 | 5.87 | 5.76 | 5.77 | 6.00 | 6.21 | 5.87 | 6.01 |
| of which Japan | 3.02 | 2.48 | 2.49 | 2.51 | 2.69 | 2.80 | 2.60 | 2.59 |
| Total OECD | 37.96 | 33.12 | 34.46 | 35.53 | 35.70 | 35.58 | 36.05 | 36.36 |
| Latin America | 3.83 | 3.12 | 3.41 | 3.44 | 3.51 | 3.30 | 3.35 | 3.31 |
| Middle East | 6.97 | 6.09 | 6.78 | 6.80 | 7.27 | 7.23 | 7.36 | 7.67 |
| Africa | 1.97 | 1.79 | 1.97 | 1.99 | 1.98 | 1.98 | 1.98 | 2.03 |
| India | 5.04 | 4.42 | 4.73 | 4.40 | 5.02 | 5.18 | 5.22 | 4.66 |
| China | 13.02 | 13.48 | 14.07 | 13.76 | 14.03 | 13.96 | 12.89 | 12.73 |
| Other Asia | 5.13 | 4.74 | 4.80 | 4.84 | 4.90 | 5.07 | 5.17 | 5.18 |
| Russia | 5.70 | 5.39 | 5.61 | 5.63 | 5.75 | 5.71 | 5.04 | 5.50 |
| Other Eurasia | 1.21 | 1.03 | 1.18 | 1.28 | 1.20 | 1.22 | 1.10 | 1.18 |
| Other Europe | 0.55 | 0.43 | 0.41 | 0.43 | 0.33 | 0.42 | 0.47 | 0.56 |
| Total Non-OECD | 43.40 | 40.49 | 42.96 | 42.57 | 44.01 | 44.07 | 42.59 | 42.83 |
| Total world | 81.36 | 73.61 | 77.42 | 78.10 | 79.71 | 79.65 | 78.64 | 79.19 |
| Â | Â | Â | Change | Â | ||
| Â | Â | Aug 22 | Sep 22 | Sep/Aug | Annual average 2021 | Year-to-date 2022-to-date |
| US Gulf (Cargoes FOB) | ||||||
| Naphtha | 84.82 | 73.94 | -10.88 | 70.70 | 94.10 | |
| Premium gasoline | (unleaded 93) | 127.41 | 119.75 | -7.66 | 91.41 | 141.17 |
| Regular gasoline | (unleaded 87) | 116.02 | 107.32 | -8.70 | 86.72 | 129.95 |
| Jet/Kerosene | 140.21 | 136.98 | -3.23 | 78.32 | 141.84 | |
| Gasoil | (0.2% S) | 122.34 | 115.38 | -6.96 | 73.94 | 125.39 |
| Fuel oil | (3.0% S) | 81.74 | 62.00 | -19.74 | 59.84 | 83.99 |
| Rotterdam (Barges FoB) | ||||||
| Naphtha | 72.98 | 69.03 | -3.95 | 70.15 | 89.69 | |
| Premium gasoline | (unleaded 98) | 137.45 | 124.73 | -12.72 | 85.89 | 139.98 |
| Jet/Kerosene | 143.04 | 135.02 | -8.02 | 77.17 | 142.84 | |
| Gasoil/Diesel | (10 ppm) | 143.00 | 139.42 | -3.58 | 78.31 | 143.25 |
| Fuel oil | (1.0% S) | 90.31 | 82.58 | -7.73 | 69.12 | 93.79 |
| Fuel oil | (3.5% S) | 78.87 | 66.29 | -12.58 | 61.38 | 85.27 |
| Mediterranean (Cargoes FOB) | ||||||
| Naphtha | 70.39 | 67.00 | -3.39 | 69.40 | 87.21 | |
| Premium gasoline | 112.59 | 99.31 | -13.28 | 80.46 | 125.47 | |
| Jet/Kerosene | 138.83 | 131.39 | -7.44 | 75.06 | 138.68 | |
| Diesel | 133.39 | 131.93 | -1.46 | 77.73 | 137.82 | |
| Fuel oil | (1.0% S) | 96.88 | 89.44 | -7.44 | 70.51 | 99.18 |
| Fuel oil | (3.5% S) | 71.03 | 51.18 | -19.85 | 58.98 | 77.81 |
| Singapore (Cargoes FOB) | ||||||
| Naphtha | 72.64 | 68.09 | -4.55 | 70.83 | 88.27 | |
| Premium gasoline | (unleaded 95) | 110.57 | 97.45 | -13.12 | 80.28 | 122.01 |
| Regular gasoline | (unleaded 92) | 107.25 | 93.79 | -13.46 | 78.28 | 118.07 |
| Jet/Kerosene | 132.39 | 120.92 | -11.47 | 75.10 | 129.57 | |
| Gasoil/Diesel | (50 ppm) | 139.23 | 128.58 | -10.65 | 77.36 | 137.98 |
| Fuel oil | (180 cst) | 133.62 | 124.55 | -9.07 | 75.71 | 131.89 |
| Fuel oil | (380 cst 3.5% S) | 73.78 | 59.20 | -14.58 | 62.07 | 82.96 |