Northwest European gasoline refining margins ended the week higher just below $10 a barrel after a large drop in regional stocks.

Trading activity slowed compared with the previous session.

Gasoline stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell about 13% to 1.2 million tons, their lowest since June 2022, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

Stocks fell amid firmer exports on the transatlantic route and to West Africa, said Lars van Wageningen of Insights Global.

Barge loading delays in the region were impacting most oil product markets, Wageningen added.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI rose by 749,000 barrels to 216.4 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 150,000-barrel drop.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)