Increased US refining demand stifling Americas tanker freight amid summer doldrums

US refineries have ramped up production in the second quarter as domestic demand for gasoline and diesel grows and global energy markets begin to adjust back to pre-pandemic demand and production levels.

Increasing US Gulf Coast refinery utilization has had an adverse impact to clean and dirty tanker freight in the Americas, however, leaving shipowner earnings at less-than-favorable levels. S&P Global Platts tanker freight editors Catherine Wood, Nicole Baquerizo and Marieke Alsguth, along with senior oil writer Janet McGurty, discuss the "push and pull" of the US refinery landscape and how it's playing out among various tanker freight segments in the Americas.