The US exported a record amount of crude and fuel last week, even as the East Coast grapples with shortages of both diesel and gasoline.
Total petroleum shipments reached 11.4 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration, with exports of gasoline and diesel jumping to two-week highs. At the same time, domestic fuel inventories are at historic seasonal lows with pockets along the East Coast running out of -- or rationing -- supplies.
Low fuel inventories headed into winter -- and against the backdrop of midterm elections -- have been a key focal point for the Biden administration, which has mulled instituting export curbs among other options to bolster supplies. Doing so could save US consumers $5 billion in gasoline costs, according to analysis by WoodMackenzie released Tuesday -- but could raise diesel costs by $2 billion to European trading partners and erase $30 billion in earnings from American refiners.
Exports of crude alone also hit a new high of 5.1 million barrels a day, with the pull from Europe strong through October. But traders cautioned that the figure could be overstated with the EIA’s so-called adjustment factor -- the difference between stockpile numbers and those implied by production, refinery demand, imports and exports -- also at a record high for the week.