Several East Coast refineries have been idled over that last several months. They are having a hard time making money because they can only process light, sweet -- and expensive -- crude from Europe and Africa.
There's a chance that some of these refineries could close permanently, talking roughly 50% of the East Coast's refining capacity offline.
That could potentially cause a shortfall in gasoline supplies at the wholesale level, at least until transportation logistics to bring gasoline up from the Gulf Coast or elsewhere are ironed out.
"Unplanned refinery outages and a further improvement in the US economy could still create further upside risks to gasoline in May and June," Merrill Lynch analysts wrote in a recent research note
