The US Gulf Coast is one of the major refining supply centers and spot market trading hubs.

The Gulf Coast is typically defined to include the refineries located along the US coast of the Gulf of Mexico running from southern Texas to southern Alabama. This includes refining clusters in Corpus Christi (TX), Houston (TX), Beaumont/Port Arthur (TX), Lake Charles (LA), along the Mississippi River of Louisiana, and on the coast of Mississippi and Alabama.

The Gulf Coast spot trading market generally includes trading of crude and oil products in the ports of Houston, Corpus Christi and Beaumont/Port Arthur. This includes transactions of ship and barge cargoes on the water and transactions at the injection point of key product pipelines such as Colonial, Plantation and Explorer.