Total oil product stocks in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell by 5.1pc in the week to Thursday, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

Gasoline fell 2.5pc to 1.1 million tonnes, on high export activity, Lars van Wageningen of Insights Global said.

US gasoline stocks fell last week by 1.5 million barrels, near analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel drop, EIA data showed.

Threatened flooding from a storm in the US Gulf of Mexico that cut nearly a third of the region's oil production has forced the shutdown of a coastal refinery, pushing oil and gasoline prices higher on Thursday.

Varo Energy has restarted its 68,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery at Cressier, Switzerland following maintenance, a spokeswoman for the company said on Thursday.

The restart was delayed by the shutdown of France's SPSE pipeline for several days after cracks were found. The SPSE system feeds crude to the refinery.