U.S. diesel exports to Europe have tumbled so far in February amid lower refinery output and tighter supplies in America, which have decreased arbitrage opportunities and further tightened European diesel supplies. Europe’s imports of U.S. diesel have nearly halved so far in February to 6.65 million barrels, down from a seven-year high imports of 11.44 million barrels in January, according to an analysis by ship tracking firm Kpler cited by Reuters. The lower imports of U.S.
hasn’t been able to materially boost diesel exports to Europe this month, due to a tight domestic distillate market, too, as well as a slump in refinery runs because of the cold snap in January, the outage at BP’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana, and planned seasonal maintenance at other U.S. refineries, including the biggest, Motiva Enterprises’ 626,000 bpd refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. In the week to February 16, U.S. distillate fuel inventories, which include diesel, fell by 4.