LONDON: European gasoline barge prices slipped on Tuesday, following Brent crude futures down, but this raised hopes that shipments to the United States could revive before the summer driving season comes to an end.
Very few gasoline cargoes have been booked over the last few days, with some market participants taking the view that US seasonal demand is beginning to slacken off, while arbitrage economics have been unhelpful.
Loading and discharging delays at terminals in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub have also deterred some traders from fixing cargoes, a broker said.
However, weaker prices in Europe and firmer US RBOB gasoline futures should make the arbitrage more workable.
"We're more competitive and I think our export economics have improved," one Europe-based trader said.
RBOB rallied on Monday after a CDU malfunctioned at BP's Whiting, Indiana refinery. A restart is expected around Aug. 19-22.
Water levels along the river Rhine and Danube remain below the depth at which barges can sail fully loaded.
On Tuesday, the depth was just 98 cm at the key measuring point of Kaub. This is limiting loading to below 50 percent of barge capacity, increasing freight costs.
A broker said water levels along the Rhine were forecast to slip further from Wednesday onwards.
European refinery gasoline inventories fell by 1.3 percent in July from June, Euroilstock data showed, reflecting strong demand from overseas markets.
GASOLINE
No barges of benchmark European EBOB gasoline traded in the afternoon price assessment window.
Some 9,200 tonnes traded ahead of the window at $581-$600 a tonne fob ARA, with prices dropping steadily as the day wore on. This range was down from Monday's trades at $596-$597 a tonne.
BP and Morgan Stanley were on the sell side and Shell, Gunvor, DSM and Vitol were buying.
The early trades came at premiums to the September swap of $28 a tonne, but this narrowed to around $18 a tonne for the later trades. Monday's trades came at premiums of $40-$41 a tonne.
At the close, the September swap was trading at around $558 a tonne, down from $565 a tonne on Monday.
Argos sold a barge of premium unleaded gasoline to Total at $589 a tonne fob ARA, down from $617 a tonne on Monday.
At 1543 GMT, Brent crude oil futures were down $1.47 at $48.94 a barrel.
The gasoline barge crack in northwest Europe was at around $22.03 a barrel, down from around $22.71 a barrel on Monday.
US RBOB gasoline futures for September were down 1.28 percent at $1.6724 a gallon. The prompt crack was at $27.02 a barrel, up from $25.74 a barrel on Monday.
NAPHTHA
No naphtha cargoes traded. The spot naphtha swap for a northwest Europe cargo was quoted at around $419 a tonne.
The naphtha crack swap for August was trading at around minus $2.83 a barrel.
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