LONDON: Gasoline refining margins slightly declined on Tuesday but held near three-month highs due to strong demand in Asia and the Middle East and refinery outages in the region.
Gasoline refining margins have found strong support in recent days from robust demand in Asia and the Middle East, where refinery outages have limited production.
Several cargoes of gasoline and reformate have been booked in recent days from northwest Europe and the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Singapore, according to shipping data.
Exports to North America were however severely curtailed by ballooning stocks in the major East Coast hub, with several cargoes leaving the area to West Africa.
Several northern European refineries started or were going to start maintenance work, limiting regional production and strengthening refining margins.
The plants include half of BP's 400,000 barrels per day Rotterdam refinery, Gunvor's 110,000 bpd Ingolstadt refinery in Germany and Total's Leuna refinery in Germany.
Additional demand also emerged into West Africa with Nigerian state oil company NNPC saying it would import six additional 37,000 tonne cargoes of gasoline in February in order to avoid shortages, according to a statement.
Exxon Mobil Corp plans to restart a gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit this week, perhaps as early as Thursday, at its 502,500 barrel per day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations on Tuesday.
GASOLINE
Vitol sold to Shell one barge of benchmark European ebob gasoline at $563 a tonne fob ARA.
Earlier in the day, some 4,000 tonnes traded at around $560 a tonne, down from around $561.25 a tonne the previous session.
Castleton sold to Gunvor one barge of premium unleaded gasoline at $584 a tonne fob ARA. * Gasoline barge refining margins rose to $12.05 a barrel from $12.48 a barrel.
In the Mediterranean, Total sold to Trafigura a cargo at $577 a tonne fob Aspropyrgos.
US front month RBOB gasoline futures were 0.24 percent higher at $1.5486 by 1637 GMT. * The US gasoline crack stood at $11.71 a barrel, down from $12.21 a barrel.
NAPHTHA
No cargoes traded. Offers came in at $518 and $522 a tonne CIF NWE. There were no bids.
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