According to the EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR), net refinery runs in the U.S. skyrocketed last week, climbing 717 Mb/d to 16 MMb/d (red-dashed circle in chart below), an impressive rebound given that we’re still in the thick of maintenance season. This increase lifted nationwide utilization back to 89.4%. As noted in Refinery Crack Spreads Soar, margins recently rose to levels not seen since early 2024, and refiners are eager to capture this uplift where they can. The resurgence in diesel cracks and the 3-2-1 crack spread has sharpened incentives for refiners to ramp up sooner and run harder, prompting some operators to accelerate post-turnaround startups.
PADD II and PADD III accounted for most of last week’s increased net refinery runs, adding 235 Mb/d and 392 Mb/d respectively, as several Midwest and Gulf Coast plants worked through planned outages faster than expected. Still, despite refiners’ desire to take advantage of stronger economics, maintenance needs can’t be ignored, and plenty of units remain down or constrained. In short, the seasonal turnaround window is not over yet, and lingering CDU outages through the remainder of maintenance season will continue to limit how quickly total runs can climb even in periods with attractive refining economics.
