Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe were little changed on Friday, supported by expectations for growing demand from West Africa while exports to the US East Coast were limited. Several cargoes were tentatively booked to take gasoline from Europe to West Africa in recent days as traders awaited Nigeria to renew buying.
ARA gasoline stocks were down to 892,000 tonnes in the week to Thursday as cargoes of the motor fuel were shipped to the Asia Pacific, the United States and West Africa, according to PJK International. Total main product stocks levels in key areas (U.S, ARA independent storage, Singapore and Japan) posted a combined build of 4.1 million barrels, according to consultancy FGE. Total weekly main product stocks are now back at the top of the 10-year range. Exports to Brazil have picked up in recent weeks, with at least four tankers carrying nearly 200,000 tonnes booked on the route, according to Reuters shipping data and traders.
Around 700,000 tonnes have been exported from Europe to Brazil so far this year, roughly in line with the same period a year earlier, according to traders. The naphtha market remained under pressure due to rising supplies and limited export options from the region as Asian buyers remain cautious, traders said.
China's state planner will lower gasoline retail prices by 180 yuan ($26.48) per tonne and diesel fuel by 175 yuan per tonne from Saturday, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website on Friday. Repair work on a distillation column at Total's 230,000 barrels per day (bpd) Leuna refinery in Germany will extend into June, the Paris-based company said.
No barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded. There was a bid at $514 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp. Outside the window, 19,000 tonnes of barges traded at $504-$508 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with trades at $513-$515 a tonne on Thursday.
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