A refinery outage in the Rocky Mountain region may attract diesel shipments from the US midcontinent this week, adding to flows that have already outpaced year-earlier levels since late 2020.
Market participants say an unreported refinery issue near Denver, Colorado, has tightened the Rocky Mountain region's diesel supply and prompted increased demand for shipping ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) westward from the Magellan Pipeline in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The two regions have seen a rise in ULSD shipments this year, with movements from the midcontinent to the Rocky Mountain region in May — the most recent month on record — rising to 31,000 b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). This was up by 40.7pc from May 2020 and marked the third highest monthly volume since EIA estimates began in 2006.
Shipments of midcontinent ULSD to the Rocky Mountain region have risen above year-earlier levels seven consecutive months from November 2020 through May. Movements this year have averaged 27,733 b/d through May, up by 47.3pc from the same stretch in 2020 to the highest five-month stretch on record.
Meanwhile, shipments of midcontinent finished gasoline to the Rocky Mountain region lagged year-earlier levels in March through May, down by 57.3pc to 2,988 b/d.
The Rocky Mountain region's crude run rates have averaged 601,000 b/d since the beginning of July, down from 606,000 b/d during that same six-week span in 2020 but up from 552,000 b/d this past June.
Tulsa ULSD prices have averaged a 0.52¢/USG premium to Nymex futures this month, up by 1.41¢/USG from the five-year average for that stretch.

