Gasoline refining margins edged down slightly on Tuesday, holding near their lowest levels since March 2016, weighed down by rising crude prices and the seasonal sell-off of winter grade gasoline ahead of the switch to summer. PBF Energy Inc may finish the planned overhaul of the gasoline-producing unit at its 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery by mid-April, said sources familiar with planned operations.
Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA plans to shut an oil upgrader in April for major maintenance work, leading to a sharp increase in naphtha imports to 83,000 bpd in April from 64,500 bpd in March, according to the document, which does not specify the duration of the shutdown. Venezuela imports naphtha mainly from the US and uses it to dilute its crude grades to make them exportable.
No barges of eurobob gasoline traded. A bid surfaced at $660 a tonne fob ARA, below Monday's deal for summer-grade at $671 a tonne fob ARA. Elsewhere, Litasco and Total sold 6,000 tonnes of barges of winter-grade eurobob at $604 a tonne fob ARA, down slightly from deals at $605 a tonne fob ARA on Monday.
No barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded but the bid/offer levels were $670/$673 a tonne. In the Mediterranean, BP bid for a cargo at $650 a tonne on a free-on-board basis loading April 17-21. The April swap stood at $665.50 a tonne at the close, down slightly from $666 a tonne on Monday. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin was slightly lower at about $2.93 a barrel from $2.96 a barrel. Brent crude futures were up 17 cents at $70.29 a barrel at 1711 GMT.
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