LONDON: Benchmark northwest European gasoline refining margins rose above $1 per barrel on Wednesday after Pfizer said its COVID-19 vaccine was more effective than previously reported.

US gasoline stocks rose by 2.6 million barrels in the week to Nov. 13 to 228 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Refinery crude runs rose by 394,000 barrels per day in the last week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates rose by 2.9 percentage points in the week.

Britain will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030, five years earlier than previously planned, as part of what Prime Minister Boris Johnson is casting as a "green revolution" to cut emissions to net zero by 2050.

Global energy trader Gunvor Group will no longer use agents, or intermediaries, for business origination and development purposes, the Geneva-based firm said on Wednesday.-Reuters