Export demand increases with Asia to US arbitrage open

Due to the geopolitical conflict, spike in crude oil, as well as peak demand in driving season, US gasoline price hiked notably. The most active contract of gasoline RBOB futures soared by 44.5% from low point of $2.9931/gal to $4.3260/gal from Apr 11 to Jun 6. With rising gasoline price, demand for toluene and MX were more attractive in gasoline blending, especially in summer when there’s large demand for high octane number oil products. As a result, US refineries used more feedstock to produce oil products or used more toluene and MX in gasoline blending, instead of producing PX or benzene. Therefore, it led to rising aromatics prices and also tight supply of PX and benzene in the US, with a deficit to be filled by materials from Asia. As US aromatics prices were driven up by spike in crude oil, the arbitrage from Asia to US was open