LONDON: Gasoline barge prices rose on Monday, boosted by spot exports of the motor fuel to the United States, where refinery maintenance is in full swing and the switch to pricier summer blends is looming.
"The arbitrage window is open," said one trader."US maintenance is helping and as a fair percentage of naphtha makes it into the trans-Atlantic cargoes; a wider gasoline-naphtha spread normally helps open the arb."
US refinery maintenance will peak in February and March, and imports to compensate for the lost output are helping support the European gasoline crack as is demand in Latin America and West Africa.
That, coupled with maintenance and cuts in refinery runs in an oversupplied European market, could add steam to the seasonal rally.
Two tankers were booked to the US East Coast, two were booked for West Africa and one for Canada.
In the Mediterranean, one trader said activity was quiet and there were no deals in the price assessment window.
Gasoline barge swaps for March rose in the week to Monday with tighter supplies expected in the Atlantic basin as European refineries start planned maintenance work.
The gasoline swaps curve was in contango into June, which means future prices are above current levels, and creates an incentive to replenish stocks. That stands in contrast to January, when negative margins prompted cutbacks at refiners.
There were no deals in the naphtha market on Monday and the arbitrage window to Asia looked closed, traders said.
Worries about tighter Western supplies pushed up the Asian naphtha crack on Monday. The Asian market had weakened last week on concerns that European naphtha was flooding in with 1.5 million tonnes to arrive in Asia in March.
GASOLINE
No barges traded in the Platts price assessment window on Monday. There were no bids and offers. One barge changed hands for $969 a tonne fob ARA on Friday.
Eight barges traded outside the window, two at $968-$981 a tonne fob ARA. Trafigura bought six barges from Gunvor and Total. Gunvor bought two barges from Total.
At the close, the March swap was trading at $981 a tonne, up from $973.50 a tonne on Friday.
No barges of premium unleaded traded in the window. Unleaded was offered around $988 a tonne fob ARA, up from $979 a tonne on Friday. There were no bids.
By 1739 GMT, Eurobob's crack to dated Brent was at around $6.470a barrel, up from $6.297 a barrel on Friday.
Brent crude oil futures were up 71 cents at $110.56 a barrel.
US RBOB gasoline futures in New York were up 0.48 percent at $2.8470 a gallon, and the prompt crack was at $23.45 a barrel.
NAPHTHA
No naphtha cargoes traded in the price assessment window on Monday for the second consecutive session. There was an offer at $935 a tonne cif Northwest Europe for March 7-11 and a bid at $922 a tonne for March 16-20.
* The naphtha crack swap for February was at minus $6.86 a barrel and the swap for March was at minus $7.31 a barrel.-Reuters
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