Europe Product Swaps-Gasoline swaps fall on high stocks, weak demand

LONDON: Gasoline refining margins swaps in northwest Europe weakened in the week to Monday, as high inventories failed to keep up with demand.

Gasoline stocks in Europe and the United States are elevated due to months of yield-shifting toward lighter products, according to traders and the US Energy Information Administration.

The high stocks have pressured margins even as peak driving season comes into full swing, and arbitrage to the United States was narrowing.

But refiners in Europe, Asia and the United States are moving back to the diesel, jet fuel and heating oil that for more than a year had become a "by-product" they did not want.

Arbitrage to Nigeria, a key outlet for Europe's gasoline, had gone quiet on the back of importers' issues accessing US dollars and NNPC's limited access to crude oil. But some were optimistic that reforms designed to relaunch interbank currency trading and attract foreign investors would free up dollars for importing.