LONDON: Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe fell on Tuesday, as crude oil prices rose and regional demand was slack.
"Gasoline is just not doing much," said one trader.
European refining has seen little respite this year after months of poor margins, with traders and analysts saying weak demand and depressed cracks raised the spectre of further cuts in processing throughputs and even closures.
"The start of the year has been brutal for European refining margins with the Brent cracking margin languishing in deeper negative territory than seen in the last quarter of 2013, at least according to the conventional view," JBC analysts said in a note to clients.
A desulphurisation unit at Shell's 404,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Pernis refinery in Rotterdam was shut down on Monday following a brief gas leak, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.
The refinery has six desulphurisation units, which remove sulphur from crude to make products, say market sources.
The naphtha market remained supported by demand in Asia, particularly from India and the Philippines, traders said.
GASOLINE
One barge of benchmark Eurobob traded in the Platts price assessment window at $926 a tonne fob ARA, up from $923 and $924 a tonne fob ARA on Monday. Gunvor sold to Kolmar.
Some 3,000 tonnes traded ahead of the window at $921 and $925 a tonne fob ARA, compared to $924-$929 a tonne on Monday. Shell sold to Vitol and Vitol sold to Trafigura.
The February swap was trading at around $930 a tonne at close, up from $929 on Monday.
Two barges of premium unleaded gasoline traded at $940 a tonne fob ARA, up from $935 and $937 a tonne on Monday. Morgan Stanley sold both barges to Total.
By 1726 GMT, Eurobob's crack to dated Brent <BFO-> was at $0.545 a barrel, down from $1.415 a barrel on Monday.
Brent crude oil futures were 58 cents higher at $107.27 a barrel at 1728 GMT.
US RBOB gasoline futures in New York were up 0.3 percent at $2.6295 a gallon, and the prompt crack <RB-CL1=R> was at $13.62 a barrel.
NAPHTHA
One cargo traded in the window at $916 a tonne cif NWE down from $917 a tonne on Monday. Gunvor sold to Shell.
The naphtha crack swap for February was at minus $4.95 a barrel, weaker than Monday's minus $3.04 per barrel.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.