LONDON: Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe ended the week 1.5 percent higher, supported by refinery outages which offset weaker overseas demand, particularly from the United States.
After a few relatively low-volume months, west African demand, particularly Nigerian, was picking up ahead of the holiday period, traders said.
The seasonal boost in demand has already led to fuel queues in Nigeria.
At least four cargoes were also booked out of Europe to the US East Coast after a sharp drop in activity following stock builds there, according to shipping data.
The shut-down of some units at the Grangemouth refinery following the Forties pipeline outage and other recent refinery hiccups such as at Lavera and Bilbao have failed to boost prices in the over-supplied gasoline market.
Gasoline stocks held in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp storage and refining hub were relatively steady on the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International 594showed, while naphtha dipped slightly.
Total says 109,000 barrels-per-day Feyzin oil refinery in France was operating at reduced rates on Thursday due to strike action.
A reformer was shut on Thursday after a fire in the East Plant at Citgo Petroleum Corp's 157,500 bpd Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations.
GASOLINE
No barges of eurobob gasoline traded during the afternoon session. Bids were seen at $593 a tonne fob ARA, up from $590 a tonne on Thursday.
Some 8,000 tonnes traded elsewhere during the day at $593.50 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, up from $587-$591 a tonne. BP and Total sold to Gunvor.
Shell sold to Total two barges of premium unleaded gasoline at $599-$600 a tonne fob ARA, up from $594 a tonne.
The January swap stood at $585.50 a tonne at the close, up $4 a tonne.
The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin rose to $7.2 a barrel from $6.19 a barrel at the previous close.
Brent crude futures was flat at $63.31 a barrel by 1635 GMT.
US front-month RBOB gasoline futures were up 0.2 percent at $1.6741 a gallon.
The RBOB crack versus US crude was down 1.72 percent at $13 a barrel.
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