Profit levels at oil refiners in Europe rose over the past week on a jump in product prices as North Sea crude held in a tight trading range, but lagged stronger US and Asian margins, Reuters data showed on Monday. Complex refiners in Northwest Europe posted an average profit of $3.37 last week when cracking a barrel of North Sea Brent crude, compared with an average profit of $2.90 in the week before.
Simple refiners topping Brent saw their margins rise to $2.05 a barrel from $1.83 over the same period. In the Mediterranean, complex margins with Russian Urals crude, which is priced in relation to Brent, rose last week to $2.48 a barrel from $1.76 in the week before. Simple margins rose to $1.20 from 68 cents over the same period.
Price rises in the middle distillate products of heating oil, diesel and jet fuel have outperformed gains in crude oil prices in Europe, pumping up overall European margins. Gasoline showed the strongest gains in the week as Brent held steady. Benchmark North Sea Brent futures flipped into a premium to US crude futures earlier in April.
Brent held steady above US crude, with a premium of around $1.15 for most of last week, down from a high of around $2.89 the week before. Reuters data showed complex margins on West Texas Intermediate in the US Gulf averaged around $5.91 last week, up from the previous week's average at $4.91. Asian margins also rose. Complex refiners posted an average profit of $6.16 when cracking a barrel of Dubai crude last week, compared with $5.32 in the previous week. Simple refiners also showed an increase, posting an average profit of $2.06 last week, compared with a gain of $1.36 in the week before.