LONDON: Northwest European diesel refining margins rose to just above $11 a barrel on Friday, close to their highest level since December, as union workers in France voted to extend their strikes.
Workers from the CGT union voted on Friday to extend their strike until June 3 at the Grandpuits refinery and until May 30 at the Feyzin refinery.
Workers also voted for an open-ended strike at the Donges refinery
Total said only its 153,000 barrels-per-day La Mede refinery was running and at reduced capacity, all four other plants have been forced to shut down as a result of the strikes.
European refiners outside France and oil traders are gearing up to cash in on the unexpected demand for diesel created by French strikes.
French gasoil stocks have been drawn down by an estimated 1.8 million barrels per day, according to PetroMatrix.
This is diverting vessels towards France and away from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub, where brimming stocks had been expected to depress distillate cracks over the summer months.
These margins are a measure of how much money refineries make producing them. GASOIL
There were no 0.1 percent sulphur gasoil barge or cargo trades.
No barges of 50 ppm gasoil traded.
June Low Sulphur Gasoil futures were 50 cents a tonne higher at $448.75 a tonne at 1532 GMT.
The June and July contracts were trading in a contango of just 25 cents a tonne, unchanged from the day before.
The diesel refining margin was at $10.98 a barrel, up from $10.54 a barrel.
DIESEL
Eight barges of diesel traded at discounts of $1.50 to $3 a tonne fob ARA to June diesel gasoil futures, compared with 50 cent to $2.50 a tonne discounts on Thursday.
Glencore sold a cif Hamburg cargo to Vitol.
JET FUEL
No barges traded. Vitol sold to Total two cargoes cif Le Havre at publication pricing basis.
FUEL OIL
Barges with a sulphur content of 3.5 percent fuel oil traded at $214-$217 a tonne fob ARA, little changed.
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