Europe has always had surplus gasoline since it is a “diesel” economy much like rest of the world. Gasoline is only a byproduct of making diesel which is main transportation fuel in most of the world except for US & Africa.
European refineries are shutting down & changing ownership for same reason they are in US – they are refineries with little to no bottoms handling units & are over 70+ years old and dont have metallurgy (without significant upgrades) to handle heavier & sour crudes of today. The expansion & addition cycle has most countries with surplus capacity at end of 2006-2011 cycle & especially so operating at 80-84% utilization rate until demand and economies recover.
………….When its darkest ………..the “stars” come out.
