Northwest European diesel barge refining margins rose to about $30 a barrel on Friday, buoyed by a fall in regional stocks and cold weather, but high imports limited further gains.

Mercuria sold the only barge in the afternoon window to Gunvor at steady premiums to ICE diesel futures.

ARA gasoil stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by more than 6% to 1.84 million tons in the week to 18 January, according to data from Dutch consultancy Insights.

U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, however, rose last week by 2.4 million barrels to 134.8 million barrels versus expectations for a 0.9 million-barrel rise, EIA data showed.

Diesel imports into Europe are set to reach 5.13 million metric tons so far in January, compared with a total of 5.31 million tons in December, LSEG analyst Raj Rajendran said in a note.

Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N is overhauling a diesel-producing hydrocracker and a reformer at its 619,024 barrel-per-day (bpd) Beaumont, Texas refinery, people familiar with plant operations said. The work on the 65,000-bpd hydrocracker and the 75,000-bpd reformer began on Jan. 8, a week before freezing temperatures descended across the Texas Gulf Coast, the sources added.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Editing by Louise Heavens)