The oil industry has been seeing strong crack spreads recently, which means that the spread between oil prices and refined product prices is currently wide, Fastmarkets heard on Friday May 31.

Crack spreads are a method used by oil refiners to estimate the profitability in the petroleum market.

Refiners have been reported to be ramping production higher to take advantage of the profitable spread. This has been good for biodiesel and renewable diesel producers.

More fuel production in the US leads to more obligated renewable fuel blending under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This has renewable fuel suppliers running hard to keep up with oil industry demand.

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