US cracking margins gained last week as strong economic indicators supported rising gasoline demand, aided by healthy export demand for refined products, an analysis by S&P Global Platts showed Monday. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now This was an about-face from the record-high inventories and low cracks at the beginning of the year. “We’ve got full employment, [gasoline] demand is hanging up at 9.3 million b/d,” said PBF CEO Tom Nimbley on the May 1 first-quarter results call. Nimbley said gasoline demand could prove to “have some legs” which could have PBF shifting to “maybe a not max but very heavy gasoline mode.” While all regions showed stronger margins, the US West Coast continued to lead the rise, driven by unplanned regional refinery outages as margins hovered near record levels. Canadian Mixed Light Sweet cracking margins averaged $34.59/b for the […]