LONDON: Gasoline barge cracks for northwest Europe firmed on Tuesday after an explosion at Europe's second-largest refinery killed two people and caused an outage in the gasoline producing unit, traders said.
"We were a little stronger today already but it should add some support," one European trader said.
The blast occurred in a steam system of a gasoline producing unit at Total's Antwerp refinery in Belgium, Total said.
Industry intelligence firm Genscape said the 57,500 barrel per day (bpd) gasoline hydrotreater was shut down shortly after the explosion.
Activity was significantly decreased at the catalytic reformer and resid hydrotreater, it said.
The December crack swap was up 33 cents at $2.60 by 1654 GMT while the January crack swap was up 30 cents at $2.98, indicating the market sees a near term tightening in supply. The prompt crack did not immediately change.
Traders on both sides of the Atlantic said the outage was likely to close off arbitrage opportunities to the United States, a traditional outlet for Europe's excess gasoline.
"In theory, European barrels should price to stay in Europe," a London-based trader said.
There was no immediate indication that Total was in the market for US Gulf Coast gasoline.
No gasoline cargoes traded in the Mediterranean, another trader said.
On the naphtha side, prices have been supported by shipments to Asia in recent weeks. Record volumes of western naphtha are headed east for December arrival, alongside a substantial amount for January arrival.
European petrochemical buyers have also been switching to naphtha as alternative feedstock propane has climbed in price going into the winter.
GASOLINE
No barges of benchmark Eurobob gasoline traded in the Platts price assessment window on Tuesday. Two barges traded on Monday at $929-$930 a tonne fob ARA.
Some 4,000 tonnes traded on the Argus platform at $922 a tonne fob ARA, down from $929 a tonne on Monday. Total sold to Gunvor.
Two barges of premium unleaded traded at $948 a tonne fob ARA, up from $941-$944 a tonne on Monday. Shell sold to Total.
The December swap was trading at $931.75 a tonne on Tuesday compared to $923.25 a tonne at the close on Monday.
Eurobob's crack to dated Brent was at around $1.337 a barrel, down from $1.979 a barrel at Monday's close.
Brent crude oil futures were down 53 cents at $107.94 a barrel by 1638 GMT.
US RBOB gasoline futures in New York were up 0.38 percent at $2.6668 a gallon at 1638 GMT, and the crack was at $19.13 a barrel.
NAPHTHA
Two naphtha cargoes traded in the window at $927-$928 a tonne cif NWE, up from $921 a tonne cif NWE on Monday. BP and Trafigura sold to Gunvor and Shell.
The prompt crack was at around minus $3.7 a barrel, strengthening from around minus $4.88 a barrel on Monday, according to Reuters calculations.
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