Refineries run by Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Citgo Petroleum Corp near St. Louis shut some units unexpectedly this week, and a tainted batch of motor fuel in Milwaukee forced several filling stations to close. Gasoline is our focus until supplies rise. The contract gained 3.7 percent this week. It was the highest price in the 17 years that unleaded gasoline has been traded on the exchange.
Futures represent wholesale prices.
Prices were little changed this week and are up 6 percent this year. Refineries have been raising production in a race to make enough gasoline in the three weeks until the summer driving season starts with the Memorial Day weekend. US gasoline inventories are about 2 percent below year-ago levels. Thirteen of 102 Mobil service stations in the Milwaukee area stopped gasoline sales temporarily after discovering they had received contaminated fuel, said Lauren Kerr, an Exxon spokeswoman. A bad batch of ethanol was delivered to a number of terminals and we had to shut 13 stations in Milwaukee to protect our customers,'' Kerr said.