The largest U.S. independent refiners are bullish on domestic gasoline demand as super-cheap fuel and the lure of bigger vehicles entice more consumers. Valero Energy Corp and Phillips 66 both say they are in “max gasoline mode,” pumping out as much as they can as a mild winter, economic uncertainty and a stinging slump in oil drilling squeezed U.S. diesel demand. They still see export demand growth for both gasoline and diesel, but at home expectations are for rising gasoline demand, despite concerns the U.S. economy could soften in 2016. “Demand is robust, but we’ve actually exported fewer barrels this year than we did last year and it’s because we’ve had better placement opportunities in the domestic markets,” Phillips 66 CEO Greg Garland told analysts, comparing 2015 to 2014, as the first wave of independent refiners unveiled 2015 results. As U.S. crude prices nosedived more than 70 percent from […]