Economic Times: European refiners pressured by US onslaught at home and away

European refiners will enjoy only a brief period of improved margins before high product imports and weak demand will undermine profitability, industry experts say.

In particular an abundance of light shale oil and gas in the United States will create surplus gasoline, propane and naphtha barrels, prompting US refiners to seek new markets overseas, forcing out European products.

"The US could become a net exporter of gasoline for the first time as early as September," warned Seth Kleinman, global head of energy strategy at Citi, speaking at the 2014 Platts European Refining Summit in Brussels on Tuesday.

"The light ends look structurally potentially disastrous - if you take the US out of the global gasoline pool, you are going to struggle to absorb a surplus here."
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