Benchmark Northwest European diesel barge refining margins rose to about $24 a barrel on Friday as inventories on both sides of the Atlantic fell.

Gasoil stocks held in independent storage in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) refining and storage hub fell 2.5% in the week to Thursday to their lowest since December 2022, data from Dutch consultancy Insights Global showed.

U.S. distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 1 million barrels last week to 113.4 million barrels, versus expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 300,000 barrels, Energy Information Administration data showed.

Diesel imports into Europe so far in July are expected to reach 2.9 million tonnes, based on ship tracking, according to Refinitiv analyst Raj Rajendran.

June imports into the region reach 6.7 million tonnes, up from 6.15 million tonnes the previous months, he added.

Russia’s July exports of ultra low-sulphur diesel (ULSD) from the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk are set to rise by 13.9% month-on-month on a daily basis to 1.6 million tonnes, from 1.36 million tonnes scheduled for June, two traders said on Friday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar; editing by Barbara Lewis)