RBOB gasoline closes at a 2-year high (and WTI tested down to a $45 handle) as all attention is focused on the duration and impact of the storm (and how long refineries will be closed). Tonight’s API data should not be market-moving since it relates to data from before Harvey but showed a big crude draw and modest (surprising) gasoline build once again.

API

Big crude draw and surprising gasoline build repeats a pattern we have been seeing for a few weeks…

“Concerns remain over the duration of the storm and how long these refinery outages will last, ” Rob Thummel, managing director and portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors, which manages $16 billion in energy-related assets, tells Bloomberg.

Motiva, the largest U.S. refinery, is running at 60% capacity; Valero Port Arthur is said to shut 2 units, while Exxon Beaumont is said to shut on flooding and Marathon Galveston Bay is also said shutting on storm issues.

“If you are going to reduce the rates of the U.S.’s largest refinery, that will have an impact,” Thummel warns.

Frankly, tonight’s API data should not move markets as the impact of storm massively dominates the marginal shift in inventory estimates… but of course, the machines will want to push the market around. WTI limped higher and RBOB barely budged.