Benchmark northwest European gasoline refining margins were little changed on Thursday in a quiet trading session while US weekly inventories rose unexpectedly. US gasoline stocks rose by 534,000 barrels last week, according to Energy Information Administration data. This compares with analyst expectations in a Reuters poll of a 1.4 million-barrel drop.
Gasoline stocks in independent tanks at the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub were largely steady at around 1 million tonnes in the past week, according to data from PJK International. Russia will cut excise taxes on wholesale sales of gasoline by 3,000 roubles ($48.16) per tonne and on diesel by 2,000 roubles per tonne from June 1, a month earlier than expected, to rein in rising fuel prices, news agencies quoted a government source on Thursday as saying.
Brazil's state-led oil company Petrobras said on Wednesday it will raise gasoline prices at refineries by 0.7 percent starting on Thursday. No EBOB barges traded in the afternoon window. Elsewhere, 8,000 tonnes of Eurobob gasoline traded at $732 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with $720.50-$721.00 a tonne on Wednesday.
Equinor sold two barges of premium unleaded gasoline to Total at $740 and $741 a tonne fob ARA, up from a trade at $737 a tonne on Wednesday. The June swap stood at $734.25 a tonne at the close, up from$731.50. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin was little changed at $10.641 a barrel.