Northwest European gasoline refining margins rose by about $1 to $11.70 a barrel on Friday, supported by lower regional stocks and refinery maintenance.

Eurobob E10 trade liquidity was 4,000 metric tons on Friday, with Shell selling to Varo.

Just one 2,000 ton barge of Eurobob E5 traded, which BP sold to Mabanaft.

Petroineos and Total sold eight premium unleaded barges in the Platts window to Trafigura.

Independent stocks of gasoline in ARA STK-GL-ARA fell by 4% in the week to Thursday, reaching 840,000 tons, Insights Global said.

Stocks fell because of higher exports to the United States, though flows to West Africa slowed, Insights Global’s Lars van Wageningen said.

Gasoline loadings from northwest Europe and the Western Mediterranean so far this month are set to reach 1.9 million tons, with 1.05 million tons destined for West Africa and 844,000 tons heading to the U.S., according to tracking data from LSEG.

Shell is planning to shut a 208,000 barrel per day (bpd) crude distillation unit at its Pernis oil refinery in the Netherlands, taking half the capacity of Europe’s biggest plant offline, industry monitor IIR said in a note to clients that was seen by Reuters.

Shell announced the maintenance work on Wednesday but did not specify the units involved. It said the maintenance would start in late January and last until mid-April.

IIR added that Shell would shut the 49,000 bpd gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracker and associated units as part of the shutdown.

Rosneft’s ROSN.MM Tuapse oil refinery in southern Russia has halted oil processing and output following a fire on Thursday, two industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Russia will likely cut exports of naphtha by some 127,500 – 136,000 bpd, or around a third of its total exports, after fires disrupted operations at refineries on the Baltic and Black Seas, according to traders and LSEG ship-tracking data.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)