Northwest European gasoline refining margins were little changed on Friday, remaining near their lowest since late March as high stocks and weak demand for exports weighed. Gasoline stocks in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub jumped by almost 29% in the week to Thursday to a three-month high of 1.08 million tonnes, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.
"US gasoline demand appears very weak heading into driving season (-1% year to date) and inventories built for the third straight week (+3.2 million barrels)," Jefferies said in a note. New US sanctions imposed on Friday target Iran's petrochemical industry, including the country's largest petrochemical holding group over its financial support for Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Treasury Department said in a statement.