LONDON: Gasoline margins firmed slightly on the back of some west African demand but market oversupplied continued in the United States and Asia, with traders expecting European refiners to start cutting runs.
"The situation in the Atlantic basin is dire, but in Asia, it is far worse. Lower octane gasoline has slumped to near parity with Brent crude in Singapore amid a glut of exports from China, and a slowdown in imports by Indonesia.
Refiners are now sending higher quality blending components to the US West Coast due to the poor state of the Asian market," Energy Aspects describing the glut said in a note.
The cost of shipping oil through the Black Sea and Mediterranean fell on Monday after a failed coup in Turkey over the weekend and shipping sources said there were no disruptions through Istanbul's vital Bosphorus Strait.
An Iranian crude cargo loaded by trading house Trafigura is set to arrive in east China this week, heating up the race among oil suppliers to meet the rise in demand for imports from China's independent refineries, trade sources said.
Two tankers were booked to west Africa were made in July by Mocoh and Total, according to a fixture list, on top of a few from last week. This marked slight rebound in west African demand.
GASOLINE
No barges of eurobob gasoline traded. There was a bid at $441 a tonne fob ARA.
Earlier in the day, some 8,000 tonnes changed hands at $448.50-$456.50 a tonne, compared with $446-$448 a tonne on Friday. Gunvor and NIC sold to Rolympus, Shell and Finco. Litasco was on the buy and sell side.
No barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded. There was a bid at $460 a tonne fob ARA.
The August swap stood at around $454 a tonne at the close, down from $466 a tonne.
Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $7.85 barrel from $6.72 a barrel on Friday.
Brent crude oil futures were down 84 cents at $46.77 a barrel by 1541 GMT.
US July RBOB gasoline futures were down 2.34 percent at $1.3887 a gallon.
The US gasoline crack was trading at $13.22 a barrel, down from $14.18 a barrel on Friday.
NAPHTHA
Vilma sold a cargo to Glencore at $381 a tonne cif Northwest Europe.
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