<article><p class="lead">Gasoline stocks in the US lower Atlantic coast rose to an 11-month high last week as steady shipments from the US Gulf coast and Europe persisted.</p><p>The lower Atlantic coast, which includes the US coastal states extending from Florida to Virginia, experienced a 9pc gain last week in gasoline inventories to 26.7mn bl, the highest since 18 February 2022, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).</p><p>Shipments from the US Gulf coast have been one of the main factors of resupply this winter. The Colonial pipeline has been allocated for the segment from Pasadena, Texas, to Greensboro, North Carolina, for cycles delivering through at least late-February. The arbitrage from Pasadena to New York Harbor for RBOB, CBOB, and 87 octane conventional gasoline averaged 7.4¢/USG so far this month, up slightly from 7.3¢/USG in January and above the pipeline tariff cost. Colonial line space settled at +0.5¢/USG today after briefly falling into negative territory late last month.</p><p>Imports from Europe to the US lower Atlantic coast have also contributed to resupply this season. As much as 1.5mn bl of gasoline and gasoline blending components arrived in the lower Atlantic coast from Europe last month, according to Vortexa, compared with 970,000 bl in December and 1.2mn bl a year earlier.</p><p>US Gulf coast gasoline stocks also received a slight boosted from imports in late January. Inventories in the region rose by 1pc to 85.25mn bl last week, while imports rose to the highest since early October at 91,000 b/d, according to EIA data. Gasoline departures from Europe to the US Gulf coast reached a seven-month high in January at as much as 690,000 bl, according to Vortexa.</p><p>Lower freight costs contributed to higher transatlantic shipments last month. Freight hit a nine-month low at $23.94/metric tonne for 37,000t clean vessels between northwest Europe and New York Harbor on 30 January, before rising slightly and settling at $24.82/t today. Rates were still $5.30/t higher than a year earlier.</p><p>Colonial offline CBOB cash prices fell to a three-week low at $2.45/USG today amid declining futures. Cash differentials settled 0.5¢/USG lower today at Nymex +0.25¢/USG.</p><p class="bylines">By Stephanie Crawford</p></article>
