Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe edged higher on Thursday despite surprise build in US gasoline stocks. US gasoline stocks rose by 2.5 million barrels, versus forecasts for 480,000-barrel drop, extending losses in US gasoline futures and sending gasoline margins tumbling.
The largest build individual build took place in PADD 1 - the area covering the Eastern Seaboard that is the key outlet for European cargoes. US refinery runs, which had been severely curtailed by hurricanes in the US Gulf, rose by 229,000 barrels per day (bpd), bringing utilization rates to 89.2 percent of total capacity, the EIA data showed.
Demand from West Africa was limited by the need for gasoil and kerosine in Nigeria, and traders said the country was asking for those imports in crude for product swap cargoes delivered in November. Still, traders said there was solid gasoline demand in Asia, while cargoes of naphtha were also booked to sail east.
One 60,000 tonne tanker was also booked to sail from ARA to the Middle East. China's top two state refiners Sinopec Corp 0386.HK and PetroChina have applied for additional quotas for exporting surplus gasoline, diesel and jet fuel before the end of the year, according to two trading sources.
Oxford unveiled plans to phase out petrol and diesel cars from the city centre beginning from 2020, while Paris authorities said they plan to banish all petrol- and diesel-fuelled cars from the city by 2030. Gunvor sold to Varo one barge of eurobob gasoline at $540 a tonne cof ARA in the afternoon trading window, compared with bid and offer discussions at $544-$551 a tonne on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, some 14,000 tonnes of traded at $546-$557 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with trades at $555-$560 a tonne on Tuesday. Total, NIC and BP sold to Trafigura, Varo and Shell. Gunvor sold to Total one barge of premium unleaded gasoline at $561 a tonne.
The November swap stood at $535.50 a tonne at the close, down from $539 a tonne the previous day. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin edged higher to $9.81 a barrel at $9.75 a barrel, up from $9.35 a barrel. Brent crude futures were down 42 cents at $56.50 a barrel at 1612 GMT. US front-month RBOB gasoline futures were down 1.44 percent at 1.5860 a gallon.
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