LONDON: Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe slipped further on Tuesday as export avenues dwindled and refineries inland began operating after outages.
Fresh demand to key export regions in the United States and West Africa was limited as buyers in those regions processed recent imports.
US demand was wobbling, traders said, leading to fewer cargo bookings on the route out of Europe.
While US vehicle miles travelled rose by 2.2 percent in May, the largest year-on-year growth reported since January, consumption has been below what some expected over the summer driving season, leading to a slowdown in bookings.
West Africa, meanwhile, slowed fresh imports as buyers processed a backlog of imports waiting offshore
Restarts at the Leuna and Lingen refineries in Germany were also adding to gasoline availability in Europe.
GASOLINE
Vitol sold Shell one barge of Eurobob gasoline during the afternoon trading window at $515 a tonne fob ARA.
During morning trade, 8,000 tonnes of Eurobob barges traded at $507-$508.50 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, up from $503-$509 a tonne fob ARA.
There were no trades of premium unleaded gasoline. Bids came in at $527 a tonne fob ARA and offers at $528. That compared with a trade on Monday at $517 a tonne.
The August swap stood at about $518 a tonne at the close, up from $510 a tonne.
Brent crude futures were up $1.44 at $50.04 a barrel at 1700 GMT.
The benchmark ebob gasoline refining margin dropped to $11.63 a barrel from $13.18.
US front-month RBOB gasoline futures were 2.7 percent higher at $1.5642 a gallon.
The RBOB crack versus US crude stood at $18.22 a barrel, 0.83 percent higher.
NAPHTHA
No naphtha cargo trades were reported. Bids were around $431 a tonne cif NWE and offers near $433-$434 a tonne.
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