West Coast and Mountain Region Diesel Supply Update | Breakthrough Advisor Pulse

Summary: We do not expect prolonged diesel supply outages or extended shortages at truck stops and fuel terminals in the West Coast or Mountain Region.

On November 11, we became aware of communication from a national fuel provider stating that they were closely monitoring diesel supplies in Arizona, Utah, and the surrounding areas because of intermittent diesel fuel supply outages. They cited refinery issues and production delays in California at the top of an exhaustive list of events creating heightened supply constraints.

The Applied Knowledge team has been monitoring refinery outages throughout California since the beginning of November and has seen a few sizable refineries experience unplanned shutdowns. In addition to three unexpected refinery outages in California, Marathon’s Los Angeles refinery—a large regional refinery—is preparing for a planned outage this coming Tuesday that is expected to last until the end of the week. These developments indicate we may see more communication from media outlets regarding potential diesel supply disruption.

Despite the outages, we do not foresee current diesel inventories suggesting broader outages for the entire West Coast or Mountain Region. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) West Coast diesel inventories at the beginning of November remained near the 5-year average inventory level. Currently, the situation appears to be a temporary regional distribution challenge rather than a shortage.

If you have a question or comment, please contact the Applied Knowledge team at AppliedKnowledge@BreakthroughFuel.com.