Gasoline exports from Europe to the U.S. East Coast rose sharply in early July after a fire at a major refinery in Philadelphia left a supply shortage in the densely populated region. Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ (PES) 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refining complex, the largest and oldest on the U.S. East Coast, is set to permanently shut down after it was hit by a devastating fire on June 21. Benchmark U.S. gasoline refining margins have gained over 16% since the fire at the plant which supplies around 55,000 bpd of gasoline to the region, according to consultancy Energy Aspects. Gasoline stocks in the U.S. East Coast, also known as PADD1, dropped last week by 2.327 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. [EIA/S] As a result, the economics for shipping gasoline from Europe to the U.S. East Coast improved significantly in recent days, traders […]