(Bloomberg) -- US fuelmakers are getting ready to carry out the lightest preventive maintenance season in three years, and the prospect that much of their capacity will stay online is easing some concerns about oil supplies backing up.
Refineries are planning to take about 529,000 barrels of daily crude-processing capacity offline during the fall, market intelligence firm IIR Energy estimated in a preliminary assessment. That’s about half the capacity shut down last year and the lowest for the period since 2021.
The lower planned outages come after heavy maintenance seasons in recent years, said Hillary Stevenson, a senior IIR director. Some fuelmakers may be postponing work until next year, potentially setting up a heavier turnaround season in 2025.
Fuelmakers typically carry out preventive work during the fall after pushing their crackers and distillation units to the limit to meet increased demand during the summer driving season.
A light turnaround season may help to soak up excess supplies of crude, supporting oil prices that earlier this month touched the lowest in more than a year. The trend also may compress profit margins from making fuels, which slumped to the lowest this year earlier this month with the end of the driving season.
--With assistance from Antonia Mufarech.
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