Europe imports of U.S. Diesel, gasoline to hit 2-year high

Europe’s diesel and gasoline imports from the United States is on track to reach a two-year high this month. In December, Europe’s U.S. loadings for diesel and gasoline reached 660,000t, according to Vortexa data. It was the highest amount headed to Europe in any month since September 2020—and a strikingly high 70% increase over cargos loaded in November. The rush for Europe to stock up on diesel and gasoil comes just a couple of months ahead of the European Union’s full ban on crude oil products set to begin on February 5. For the United States, which is already battling falling diesel supplies that are 14% below their five-year average, the increasing European imports have collided with refinery outages over the Christmas holidays due to cold weather, further depressing U.S. distillate and gasoline inventories.