The refined oil product crisis has exacerbated the US economic turmoil

At the end of May, the "diesel famine" swept through the United States, and the inventory of other refined oils, including gasoline and aviation fuel, was also accelerating the depletion
.
Given the limited local refining capacity, with the arrival of the summer peak of travel, the price of refined oil products in the United States has been rising, further aggravating the inflationary pressure in the country and the economic turmoil in the United States continues to intensify
.

The pressure on the supply of refined oil products has increased sharply

According to the U.
S.
Energy Information Administration (EIA), as of the last week of May, total U.
S.
diesel inventories had fallen to their lowest level in 17 years, and intermediate distillate stocks, including heating oil and jet fuel, were also at their lowest level
in more than 10 years.
Meanwhile, the retail price of diesel fuel in New York hit a record high on May 21 at $6.
515/gallon
.

"Diesel is a key fuel
for the U.
S.
economy.
" Patrick DeHaan, head of analysis at GasBuddy, the U.
S.
-based agency that tracks gasoline and diesel prices, said: "Deteriorating supply will push up commodity prices and the entire economy will be affected
.
" ”

At the end of April, the EIA noted that only 105 million barrels of distillate stocks remained in the United States, including diesel, the lowest level
since 2008.
Among them, inventories in the East Coast region are at an all-time low, as the region's refining capacity has halved over the past 10 years to just 818,000 barrels
per day.

PhiladelphiaEnergySolutions, the largest refining complex on the U.
S.
East Coast, has been closed since the June 2019 fire, while some refineries have initiated routine maintenance inspections that were previously delayed due to the pandemic, and a number of refineries are reconfiguring production lines to expand biofuel capacity, which has greatly limited the production of refined oil products
in the United States.

Karim Fawaz, an expert at S&P Commodity Insight, said that with the arrival of summer, with refined oil stocks at historically low levels and very limited spare capacity, U.
S.
refined oil supplies will be "difficult to keep up"
in the short and even medium term.

The Financial Times pointed out that there is currently no excess capacity in the United States to increase refined oil production and replenish inventories, especially after
the epidemic caused a number of refineries to shut down.
"Refining capacity has been depleted, which is difficult to solve quickly, especially if demand recovers further
.
" Morgan Stanley analyst Martijn Rats noted
.

Thomas Nimbley, CEO of PBFEnergy, a large U.
S.
refiner, said that even with relatively high utilization, the current U.
S.
refining capacity can barely keep up with demand
.
"Due to the high fuel margins, we have gone to great lengths to convert every drop of gasoline into aviation fuel or gasoline and diesel
.
"

The economic burden on the American people has increased

In the last week of May, gasoline prices in 50 U.
S.
states exceeded $4 per gallon for the first time ever, just before the peak travel season began
.
The continued high price of refined oil products has exacerbated market concerns about the stagflation of the US economy, putting unprecedented economic pressure on
the public.

According to CNBC News Network, at the end of April, the benchmark diesel futures of the New York Mercantile Exchange had set a new record
.
Data compiled by UBS shows that diesel and jet fuel traded at New York Port exceeded $200 a barrel
in the second week of May.

According to the American Automobile Association, as of May 22, the average price of diesel fuel in the United States reached $5.
56/gal, an increase of 75% year-on-year, and the market expects diesel prices to soar to $10/gallon
by the end of the summer.

Consumers in the United States are plagued
by high oil prices.
The latest poll quoted by the Capitol Hill newspaper shows that high inflation and rising prices have caused 45% of the American people to face financial pressure, the highest level
in nearly 4 years.
According to the American Psychological Association, nearly 90 percent of Americans believe that daily living expenses such as energy bills are growing too fast, which makes them feel stressed
.