The strength of Brent has crushed refining margins, with gasoline's crack trading at around $2.11 a barrel by 1222 GMT.

A middle distillates trader said there was increasing buying interest as the Rhine reopened partially on Thursday, helping alleviate a build-up of around 400 vessels stuck in the river.

The waterway opened to northbound sailings having closed to shipping sailing south on Thursday.

European traders awaited independent product storage data in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub out later on Thursday.

GASOLINE

Some 11 gasoline barges traded in the morning in a range of $874-$876 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $869-$871 a tonne fob ARA the previous session.

The February swap for gasoline was quoted at around $888 a trader said, up from around $853.6 late on Wednesday.

Eurobob's crack spread to dated Brent was down at around $2.11 a barrel by 1222 GMT.

ICE Brent crude futures were up 50 cents at $102.84 a barrel by the same time, and retreating from the record $103 a barrel touched earlier today.

U.S. RBOB gasoline futures in New York were 0.65 percent stronger at $2.5147 a gallon. The crack spread was at about $14.02 a barrel.

MIDDLE DISTILLATES

February ICE gas oil futures were up $5.75 at $863.75 a tonne by 1223 GMT.

The prompt ICE gasoil crack touched a year-high of $13.95 a barrel earlier in the session, and dropped back to $13.88 by 1224 GMT.

The February/March spread was in contango of $5.75 by the same time.

Gasoil barges were talked at discounts of around $4.5-$6.0 to ICE gasoil futures, compared with Wednesday's $5.5-$6.0 discount, but there were no trades in the morning.

Diesel barges were offered at premiums of around $21.0-$22.5 a tonne fob ARA by midday, slightly up from the previous session's $20 level.

Barges of 50 ppm were offered at $18.5 over.

FUEL OIL

Prices of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) barges with 3.5 percent sulphur content continued to climb, and were quoted at $541-$548 a tonne fob ARA, firmer than Wednesday's $541-$543 a tonne fob ARA range.

Barges of low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) were talked at $555-$559 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $553 the previous session.