LONDON: Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe strengthened on Wednesday despite a bigger than expected increase in US inventories last week.
US gasoline stocks rose last week by 2.0 million barrels, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a gain of 178,000 barrels, according to EIA data.
Gasoline exports from the region have significantly slowed down this week after a wave of new tanker bookings followed a major outage on the Colonial Pipeline in the United States earlier this month.
Low water levels along the Rhine River limited barge traffic, further dampening demand.
Seasonal refinery maintenance is expected to lower regional output and help reduce stocks, which have steadily declined in recent weeks, traders said.
The chief executive of Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, said on Wednesday he did not see the global oil market tightening before 2018.
GASOLINE
Gunvor sold to Shell one barge of benchmark Eurobob traded at $465 a tonne fob ARA, down from $458 a tonne.
Some 8,000 tonnes of winter gasoline traded earlier in the day at $470-$481 a tonne ARA, compared with $460-$474 a tonne on Tuesday. Shell, Gunvor and NIC sold to Finco, Gunvor and Trafigura.
There were no trades for barge of premium unleaded but an offer surfaced at $475 a tonne fob ARA.
The October swap stood at $463 a tonne at the close, up from $457.50 a tonne. * Gasoline barge refining margins edged higher to $10.1 a barrel from $9.1 a barrel on Tuesday.
Brent crude oil futures were up 23 cents a barrel at $46.20 by 1540 GMT.
US October RBOB gasoline futures were up 0.95 percent at 1.4070 a gallon.
The US gasoline crack was trading at $12.91 a barrel, up from $12.49 a barrel.
NAPHTHA
No cargoes traded.
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