Gasoline refining margins in northwest Europe were hardly changed on Wednesday as strong demand for European fuel from West Africa outweighed a sharper-than-expected rise in US inventories. A Vitol-booked 115,000-tonne cargo aboard the newly built Sea Icon is sailing to West Africa from the Latvian port of Ventspils, according to Reuters ship tracking and trading sources.
Nigeria is working overtime to replenish its tanks after shortages and queues popped up across the nation of more than 180 million in early December - sparking a scramble for state oil company NNPC. The cargo adds to roughly 1 million tonnes that are already booked to sail for Lagos alone from Europe this month, according to industry monitor Genscape. That followed a similar amount loading on that route in January, but compared with just under 500,000 tonnes in November, Genscape data showed.
Trade sources said nearly 1.7 million tonnes of gasoline arrived in West Africa in January from European and Baltic ports. US gasoline stocks rose by 3.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 459,000-barrel gain, according to Energy Information Administration data.
No eurobob barges traded in the afternoon window. Bid and offer discussions emerged at $616-$626 a tonne fob ARA, down from trades at $630 and $631 a tonne the previous day. Earlier in the day, some 12 barges traded at $620-$634 a tonne fob Amsterdam-Rotterdam, down from $637-$645 a tonne on Tuesday. BP, Trafigura and Varo sold to Gunvor. Statoil sold to Total three barges of premium unleaded gasoline at $638-$641 a tonne fob ARA, down from $645-$647 a tonne in the previous session.
The March swap stood at $622 a tonne at the close, down from $635.25 a tonne. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin was little changed at $9.01 a barrel. Brent crude futures were $1.06 lower at $65.80 a barrel by 1647 GMT.
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