US gasoline cracks ease after Colonial restart, ransom paid

London, (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - US gasoline wholesale prices eased late Thursday, according to data compiled by Quantum, as President Biden said shortages would disappear over the weekend and after reports that the Colonial Pipeline company had restarted operations after paying hackers a ransom.

Gasoline cracks versus WTI for May fell back $0.30/b by 19:00 London time to $24.10/b using a flat price of $2.09/gallon.

The Colonial Pipeline, which accounts for 45% of transport fuel demand from the east coast of the US had restarted operations on Thursday, according to market sources citing a letter to shippers.

President Biden in a statement said that fuel shortages across the region would ease by Sunday.

Gasoline cracks barely reacted to the news of the east coast shortage, with cracks actually falling as the gasoline stock build in the US outweighted concerns over any short term panic buying.