Gasoline refining margins gained sharply on Thursday after draws on inventories on both sides of the Atlantic. Total oil product stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining and storage hub rose by nearly 3 percent to 6.06 million tonnes in the week to Thursday, according to data from Dutch consultancy PJK International. Gasoline stocks fell slightly on a pick-up in exports from the region, particularly to West Africa and Asia, PJK's Jacob van den Berge said.
US gasoline stocks fell last week by 1.7 million barrels, against analyst expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2 million barrel drop, EIA data showed. US refiners have switched to making summer-grade gasoline earlier than usual because profit margins have improved compared with those for spring months, market sources said. An explosion killed six people at Unipetrol's plant in Kralupy nad Vltavou on Thursday, rescue officials said.
Unipetrol had been preparing the refinery for maintenance and an upgrade scheduled to run from March 27 to May 9. Valero Energy Corp's 191,000 barrel per day Houston refinery was hit by a brief electrical power interruption on Thursday morning, said sources familiar with plant operations. Vitol sold to Gunvor a barge of winter-grade eurobob gasoline at $596 a tonne fob ARA, down from $600 on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, 26,000 tonnes of gasoline barges traded at $601.75-$603 a tonne fob ARA, compared with $588.50-$589 on Wednesday. Total and Litasco sold to Hartree, Shell, Trafigura and BP. Gunvor sold to Total a barge of premium unleaded gasoline at $664 a tonne fob ARA, down from $668. The April swap stood at $662.50 a tonne at the close, down from $664.25. The benchmark EBOB gasoline refining margin rose to $3.545 a barrel from $1.626.