A nationwide strike against a French government labour law reform has cut output at Total's refineries in France, a CGT Union official said on Tuesday.
The strike has so far affected production at several of Total's refineries, which produce around 600,000 barrels per day of middle distillates, traders said.
Large imports from the United States, the Middle East and Asia which could total 3.5 million tonnes in May, were nevertheless likely to mitigate the shortages, traders said.
Gasoil was boosted by tenders from Egypt's EGPC and Algeria's state-run oil company Sonatrach to buy a total of 288,000 tonnes of gasoil in June.
Egyptian refiner Midor also issued a tender to sell a 30,000 tonne cargo of jet fuel in June, according to a tender document seen by Reuters. The tender closes on Wednesday May 18.
GASOIL
No barges of 0.1 percent sulphur content traded. * No cargoes traded.
Barges of 50 ppm gasoil traded at discounts of $5-$5.50 a tonne fob ARA to the June Low Sulphur Gasoil futures.
June Low Sulphur Gasoil futures were up $9.50 at $439.75 a tonne at 1540 GMT.
The June and July contracts were trading in a contango of 75 cents a tonne, narrowing from $1.50 a tonne.
The diesel refining margin was at $9.63 a barrel, up from $8.87 a barrel.