LONDON: Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe edged higher on Tuesday amid limited trading activity due to the US public holiday.
Activity in the market was limited due to the July 4th holiday in the United States.
The market will be closely watching US gasoline demand in the week of the Independence Day holiday for signs of a revival after a disappointing first six months of 2017, traders said.
US gasoline demand rose by a modest 0.4 percent in April compared with last year, the first year-over-year increase since December, according to the US Energy Information Administration data.
The increase, while small, is welcome news to US refiners and oil bulls who have feared that demand was weakening at a time when US and global petroleum inventories remain above or near five-year highs.
Deliveries to the US Atlantic Coast from Northwest Europe this month are set to fall 35 percent compared with the 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) that sailed on the route in June 2016, according to US-based ClipperData.
GASOLINE
No barges of Eurobob gasoline traded in the afternoon trading window.
Earlier in the day, some 20,000 tonnes of eurobob barges traded at $501-$506 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, compared with $498.5-$504 a tonne on Monday.
Shell sold to Gunvor one barge of premium unleaded gasoline in the afternoon trading window at $520 a tonne fob ARA, up from $513-$515 a tonne fob ARA on Monday.
The July swap stood at $507 a tonne at the close, little changed.
Brent crude futures were up 2 cents at $49.70 a barrel at 1550 GMT.
The benchmark ebob gasoline refining margin was at $11.1 a barrel, up from $10.74 a barrel.
US front-month RBOB gasoline futures were down 0.2 percent at $1.5321 a gallon.
The RBOB crack versus US crude stood at $17.24 a barrel, down from $17.79 a barrel at the previous close.
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