RIN prices fall so low to encourage gasoline imports from Europe and Canada

In Washington, Platts reports that RIN prices trading at a fraction of what they were a year ago— just 1.74 cents/gal last week compared to 94.5 cents/RIN on October 23, 2017—have encouraged imports of gasoline from Europe and Canada into East Coast ports, especially since many refiners are running below capacity and Philadelphia Energy Solutions has been running at under 80% capacity for more than six weeks. During the week ending November 2, East Coast gasoline imports hit 554,000 barrels per day compared to 307,000 b/d the week prior.