LONDON: Benchmark diesel refining margins in northwest Europe weakened on Tuesday as more supplies were offered from Russia and Asia despite lower regional production due to maintenance.
Supplies in the region were on the rise with more cargoes from Asia and the Middle East on offer, traders said.
Warm weather and very high storage levels continued to cap demand.
However, refinery turnarounds, which peak in Europe in March, were helping remove some of the heavy oversupply seen in recent months.
US refiners have slashed maintenance plans for April by more than a third, according data from IIR Energy, a shift likely to support to market confidence that oil's longest, deepest rout in a generation is finally over.
Nearly 1 million tonnes of diesel has been booked for arrival in April in Europe and the Mediterranean from the Middle East and Asia, according to shipping data and traders.
This compared with close to 2.5 million in February.
The arbitrage from the US Gulf Coast was open after freight rates fell in recent days, traders said.
German consumer heating oil stocks at the start of March rose to 58 percent of tank capacity, up from 57 percent in February, a trade source said on Monday.
The amount is six percentage points above the five-year average of 52 percent for early March.
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