Refiners Slow MTBE Purchases Amid Improved Blendstock Availability

Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) prices at FOB US Gulf Coast declined x.xx during mid-May xxxx, as the convergence of a meaningful crude oil correction driven by US-Iran diplomatic progress, improving Hormuz transit expectations, and demand resistance from gasoline blenders at extraordinary elevated price levels produced the first sustained weekly pullback in US MTBE pricing since the Middle East war began on February xx, xxxx.

The primary catalyst for the week&#xx;s correction was the significant moderation in crude oil prices which declined by x.xx during the week. The US EIA&#xx;s May xxxx Short-Term Energy Outlook assessed Brent crude at approximately $xxx per barrel for May and June xxxx, projecting that once Strait of Hormuz traffic gradually begins to resume in late May or early June, prices will begin to fall — decreasing to an average of $xx per barrel by Qx xxxx as global oil inventory withdrawals lessen....