RBOB Gasoline
CME Group - NYMEX
The blendstock that becomes American gasoline once ethanol goes in at the terminal rack.
Top Producers
share of 2024 global gasoline production
Top Consumers
share of 2024 global gasoline consumption
Main Uses
US gasoline demand by end use
Top Exporters
share of 2024 seaborne gasoline and blendstock exports
Top Importers
share of 2024 seaborne gasoline imports
Global Liquids Production
country share of roughly 105 million barrels per day of total liquids (crude, condensate, NGLs, biofuels, refinery processing gain), 2025 (IEA and EIA)
Global Liquids Consumption
share of roughly 105 million barrels per day of total liquids demand, 2025 (IEA and EIA)
US gasoline demand
roughly 8.9 million b/d
as of 2025
Contract size
42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels)
Ethanol blend share
10% of finished gasoline (E10 standard)
Record US retail average
$5.02 per gallon in June 2022
RB futures volume
roughly 150,000-200,000 contracts/day
as of 2025
RBOB stands for Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending: gasoline shipped at 90% strength, designed to receive a 10% ethanol splash at the distribution terminal. The NYMEX RB contract launched in October 2005 and replaced the old unleaded gasoline contract after MTBE, the previous oxygenate, was abandoned over groundwater-contamination liability. The contract delivers 42,000 gallons in New York Harbor and prices in US cents per gallon. Every US pump price starts here: retail gasoline is essentially RBOB plus ethanol, taxes, distribution, and retail margin.
Gasoline is the most seasonal of the major products. Summer-grade gasoline must meet tight Reid Vapor Pressure limits, typically 9.0 psi and lower in many markets, to limit evaporative emissions in hot weather, and the specification switch each spring routinely tightens supply and widens cracks into the Memorial Day start of driving season. The futures curve carries the seasonality permanently: spring and summer contracts trade at premiums to winter ones. US gasoline demand runs at roughly 8.9 million barrels per day, and the weekly EIA report on gasoline stocks and implied demand is the contract's heartbeat.
The 2020s added a structural supply story. US refinery closures and conversions removed more than a million barrels per day of capacity between 2019 and 2025, including the LyondellBasell Houston refinery and the Phillips 66 Los Angeles plant in 2025, while electric vehicles began eroding demand growth without yet shrinking the base. The result is a market where summer supply scares arrive faster than they did in 2010, even as the long-run demand debate plays out.
How It Trades
| Venue | CME Group - NYMEX (Globex) |
| Benchmark contract | RBOB Gasoline futures (RB) |
| Contract size | 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) |
| Price terms | US cents per gallon |
| Settlement | Physical delivery in New York Harbor; OTC swaps and regional basis markets cash-settle against RB settlements and Platts assessments |
| Typical curve | Permanently seasonal: spring and summer months at premiums to winter months, on top of the underlying crude structure |
| Liquidity | Roughly 150,000 to 200,000 contracts per day, concentrated in the front months |
Where It Trades
approximate share of global daily traded RBOB volume, 2025
Supply and Demand
Top producers
- US Gulf Coast refining complex (PADD 3), the largest gasoline producer and exporter
- East Coast imports from Europe into New York Harbor
- Midwest (PADD 2) and West Coast (PADD 5) regional refining systems
- Corn ethanol producers supplying the 10% blend component
New York Harbor is the delivery point and pricing basis; the US Gulf Coast and the transatlantic arbitrage from Europe keep it supplied.
Top consumers
- US motorists: roughly 8.9 million b/d of finished gasoline demand
- Mexico and Latin America, the main outlets for US Gulf Coast gasoline exports
- Regional spot blenders and marketers supplying retail chains
Major uses
- Road transport fuel, blended with 10% ethanol as E10 at the terminal
- Benchmark for wholesale gasoline differentials across all five PADDs
- The gasoline leg of the 3-2-1 crack spread, the standard US refinery margin proxy
What Moves the Price
- Driving season demand between Memorial Day and Labor Day
- The spring switch to summer-grade RVP specifications, which tightens supply every year
- Refinery turnarounds, outages, and hurricane risk on the Gulf Coast
- Weekly EIA gasoline inventory and implied-demand data
- Crude price moves, which pass straight through the crack spread
- Ethanol economics and Renewable Fuel Standard credit (RIN) prices
- Transatlantic arbitrage economics versus European gasoline
- US refinery closures shrinking domestic supply capacity
Moments That Made the Market
1984
NYMEX lists leaded, later unleaded, gasoline futures in New York Harbor
2005
RBOB futures launch in October 2005 as MTBE liability forces the switch to ethanol blending; hurricanes Katrina and Rita spike gasoline the same autumn
2008
Gasoline follows crude to record highs; US retail averages above $4 per gallon for the first time in July 2008
2020
COVID lockdowns cut US gasoline demand by nearly half in April 2020; cracks collapse
2022
Post-invasion product shortage drives US retail gasoline to a record $5.02 national average in June 2022
2025
LyondellBasell Houston and Phillips 66 Los Angeles refinery closures remove further US gasoline capacity
What Changed Since the 2010 Handbook Era
- The contract itself: RBOB with ethanol blending replaced MTBE-era unleaded in 2005-2006
- The US flipped from structural gasoline importer to one of the largest exporters, mainly to Latin America
- Refinery closures and conversions removed more than a million barrels per day of US capacity between 2019 and 2025
- Electric vehicles turned the demand debate from growth-rate to peak-timing, without yet shrinking the base
- Renewable fuel credits (RINs) became a material, volatile component of blending economics