The Oil Drum

This is a guest post by Smokey. Smokey has a background in sustainability in transportation, and has conducted research on responding to fuel supply disruptions.

To what degree is the decline in quality crude affecting domestic refinery utilization rates and therefore gasoline stocks?

In recent years some analysis has suggested that light sweet crude oil may have peaked, with the world left to increasingly rely on lower quality crudes. See for example this story on The Oil Drum and this story on Energy Bulletin. Although the data on global peaking of light sweet crude may not yet be conclusive, data on the production of many regions that produce primarily light sweet crudes conclusive show that many of these regions are past peak.