New evidence on the relationship beetween crude oil and petroleum product prices

The present study aims at providing new evidence on the price re- lationships between crude oil and petroleum products. We employ single-equation error correction models (ECM) in which both changes in crude oil price and deviations from the long-run equilibrium are used to explain product price dynamics. A GARCH structure is applied to models' residuals to account for the time-varying volatility. Our key piece of innovation is the introduction of re¯ning margin e®ects to the analysis of the asymmetric products price movements. Results suggest that the overall balance in the re¯nery sector plays an important part in the adjustment to crude price shocks.