European gasoline margins up

Northwest European gasoline barge refining margins rose on Wednesday as data showed an increase in US gasoline stocks.

US crude stocks rose last week as refineries cut output, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Refinery crude runs fell by 101,000 barrels per day (bpd), EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.2 percentage points.

Gasoline stocks rose by 5.1 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel gain.

The news of the big gasoline inventory spike pushed down US gasoline prices, even as most other energy futures prices remained relatively flat.

Demand for gasoline usually increases in the United states in Thanksgiving Day holidays as travel picks up.

Arrivals of European gasoline and gasoline components to the United States were seen around 805,400 tonnes so far in November, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

Out of 33 gasoline cargoes in total for November delivery to the United States, 10 cargoes were loaded in the Netherlands and 10 in the United Kingdom.

Energy markets intelligence firm Genscape said on Tuesday that the 150,000 bpd CDU was shut down in Repsol's Tarragona refinery with a capacity of 175,000 bpd. Repsol did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. Genscape said the 80,000 bpd catalytic reformer at Exxon's Beaumont refinery with a capacity of 350,000 bpd was restarted on Tuesday. The reformer was shut in early October as part of a multi-unit turnaround.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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