This summer, United States refineries operated just shy of record highs, running close to 100 percent utilization rates. Refineries reached a new record-high gross input value of 18.243 million bpd for the week ending August 10. The record-high run rate pushed utilization to 98.1 percent, the highest recorded since 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report. These peak run rates are a function of high summer demand and low crude oil pricing as midstream capacity constraints widen regional crude oil differentials. However, these rates will not continue for much longer, as peak summer demand season comes to a close with refinery maintenance season beginning in September. Refinery utilization rate is a function of the volume of crude input divided by the overall refinery capacity. A decrease in utilization rate signifies a refinery outage cause by an unplanned refinery upset (such as a fire) […]